Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek ISBN: 0-226-32061-8 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.48 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.48 (106 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The new testament of liberalism
Comment: The "Road to Serfdom" is probably the best twentieth century defense of classical liberalism. Frederick Hayek, a Nobel Prize economist, outlines in depth the philosophical distinction between Western liberal values and German and Soviet totalitarianism.
Hayek addresses the basic tenets of socialism, or more accurately, economic planning. In a planned economy, he argues, people delegate responsibility to a higher body and slowly lose their moral agency and personal freedom; and, he shows that economic planning is inevitably dehumanizing, producing regimes that sacrifice freedom, morality and truth in pursuit of their conception of the "common good." "The Road to Serfdom" conveys succinctly the intellectual basis of the Cold War and presents the inevitable link between economic planning and totalitarianism; anyone who thinks the Soviet Union was a twisted application of a noble ideal should give "The Road to Serfdom" a close read.
More than half a century after its publication, "The Road to Serfdom" is still applicable. Hayek's discussion of liberalism is timeless and warns that economic planning does little more than take away our freedom. That is probably the message Hayek would have for those who feel burdened by the complexity of globalization and look to the state for help. Better than anyone, Hayek points clearly to the line that should separate the state from the market; and, he shows that the ultimate victor from this separation is human freedom.
Rating: 5
Summary: Liberty and free markets are inextricably linked.
Comment: This is the indispensable primer on the economics of liberty. Hayek, along with Milton Friedman, Ludwig Von Mises, and other members of the Mount Pelier Society worked to refute the prevalent idea earlier in this century that planned economies (Nazi and Communist, or Keynesian western socialism) were the inevitable wave of the future, and western liberal democracies a dying legacy of the past. In the 1990's we forget that in the 30's and 40's this battle hung in the balance, and that most of the educated world saw socialism as the inescapable and desirable model for the world. Events have since disproved that view, but The Road to Serfdom was the seminal work that cogently and forcefully addressed this issue, and served to guide the next generation of political leaders. The Thatcher and Reagan revolutions that helped to move governments back to governing, and not running capital markets was directly influenced by this book, and its 1945 Reader's Digest condensed printing in the U.S. The book is organized into thematic chapters, addressing topics from why planned economies lead to coercive measures from the state, to why the worst people rise to the top in socialist states. While the book is primarily an economics work, it has elements of political science and philosophy mixed in, and is generally readable to the layman. On occasion a point is complex enough to require a second reading, but just as often a section of clarion prose so clearly illuminates a point that the reader is hit with a revelation. It is for this quality that the book recently enjoyed its 50th anniversary printing, and is just as relevant today in reminding us that liberty and economic planning are mutually exclusive. There is no "third way" between Capitalism and Socialism that combines the liberty of the former with the promised security of the latter. Former Hungarian President Vaclev Havel, commenting on the book said "There is no third way. It is the quickest route to the Third World."
Rating: 5
Summary: Why we have to fight government
Comment: Hayek, the great communicator of libertarian thought, meticulously explains why every scheme aiming for an utopian goal through state power, whether it be the well-being of a "race" or the universal socialist Eden, _must_ end in tyranny.
At first glance, his analysis seems to apply to a bygone era, before "the end of history" where liberal democracy triumphs over statist terror. However, his words are as important today as ever - liberty is as threatened today by both the well-meaning and the self-interested.
The most interesting part of this book for me was his explanation of how Nazism, Fascism, and Communism are of the same cloth, not only in their effects, but also in their influences. Major figures in the National Socialist movement made their way there from a communist background, well documented in this book.
It is illuminating, and sad, how society still considers Nazism to be to the "right" of the political spectrum and communism to the "left", and therefore less evil than Nazism. This despite the fact that communism killed many more people than Nazism ever did. Compare only the 14 million Ukranians with the 6 million Jews, and then we have not even mentioned the Poles and the other statistics on the road to tyranny.
In fact, fascism, national socialism and communism are the same - they meet in the oppresion and killing of people. That should give pause to the left and the right today, but still they persist in their schemes to achieve their idea of "justice" at any cost - even if that cost is tallied in human lives. Killing civilians in Iraq is good for them - because their childrem might be free. Or, it is unfortunate that you will die because the FDA forbids you to try unapproved drugs, but, it is better for the other people, don't you see?
 |
Title: Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman ISBN: 0226264211 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Free to Choose: A Personal Statement by Milton Friedman, Rose D. Friedman ISBN: 0156334607 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: November, 1990 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Wealth of Nations (Great Minds Series) by Adam Smith ISBN: 0879757051 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: December, 1991 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
 |
Title: The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism (The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek, Vol 1) by Friedrich A. Hayek, W. W. Bartley ISBN: 0226320669 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: August, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.41 |
 |
Title: The Constitution of Liberty by Friedrich A. Hayek ISBN: 0226320847 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: November, 1978 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
