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The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents–The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek) (Paperback)

by F. A. Hayek (Author), Bruce Caldwell (Foreword, Editor, Introduction)

Textbook Details
* Paperback: 304 pages
* Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (March 30, 2007)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0226320553
* ISBN-13: 978-0226320557
* Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
* Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
* Rating:

Textbook Description
An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944—when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program—The Road to Serfdom was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For F. A. Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

First published by the University of Chicago Press on September 18, 1944, The Road to Serfdom garnered immediate, widespread attention. The first printing of 2,000 copies was exhausted instantly, and within six months more than 30,000 books were sold. In April 1945, Reader’s Digest published a condensed version of the book, and soon thereafter the Book-of-the-Month Club distributed this edition to more than 600,000 readers. A perennial best seller, the book has sold 400,000 copies in the United States alone and has been translated into more than twenty languages, along the way becoming one of the most important and influential books of the century.

With this new edition, The Road to Serfdom takes its place in the series The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek. The volume includes a foreword by series editor and leading Hayek scholar Bruce Caldwell explaining the book’s origins and publishing history and assessing common misinterpretations of Hayek’s thought. Caldwell has also standardized and corrected Hayek’s references and added helpful new explanatory notes. Supplemented with an appendix of related materials ranging from prepublication reports on the initial manuscript to forewords to earlier editions by John Chamberlain, Milton Friedman, and Hayek himself, this new edition of The Road to Serfdom will be the definitive version of Friedrich Hayek’s enduring masterwork.

The Road to Serfdom Review
F. A. Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and the principal proponent of libertarianism in the twentieth century. In this book written in 1944, Hayek expertly refutes socialist schemes and shows the utter peril that socialism poses to individual freedom. We were warned in the 19th century by one of my favorite historians, Lord Acton, “that socialism is slavery”. Hayek expertly points out throughout the book how democracy is no safeguard to economic freedom. He does this by pointing out the command economy structure that was instituted in Great Britain to show how individual freedom was stolen from the individual by the “economic interventionists” in the government. One of Hayek’s most prescient quotes is; “When democracy becomes dominated by a collectivist creed, democracy will inevitably destroy itself.” Hayek points to how most politicians feel they need to use government to plan the economy of a nation. “Planning is a synonym for socialism and a small step away from communism. He ably refutes Keynesian theory throughout the book. This is an easy to read and understand book that should be read by all who wonder what role the government should have on our economic choices. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, economic theory, and history.

This book is a classic and a mandatory read for anyone interested in the fundamental forces at work in an economy. In a sense it is just as much a book on sociological and psychological behavior in the marketplace as it is about economics, and it is not a tough, high esoteric read as many such books are. The reader should keep in mind as he goes through the book that Hayek was writing it for an English audience in the years immediately following WW II, but it is still applicable to an American audience of the 1940′s and today. Make sure to read the prefaces and introductions to earlier publications of the book before reading the text itself.

It has been a long time since I read anything as mentally taxing as Hayek’s The Road To Serfdom. This is definitely college level reading in regards to extended sentence structure. I found that as I progressed through the book the style became easier to read and I did not have to reread sentences, or even whole paragraphs, to be sure I was comprehending it correctly. That is why I titled this review as I did. I appreciate the book for confirming many thoughts I already held and expanding my views, however, I can’t say I enjoy learning that our society hasn’t learned from history and that we are now on a road to reliving it.

As for the book itself, the Road to Serfdom explains focuses on the rise of totalitarianism in twentieth century Europe. Yet it also made a more general argument concerning the incompatibility of democracy and comprehensive central planning. Hayek argues that the pursuit of socialist ideals leads to totalitarianism. While socialist ideals seem noble to many, those who persist in realizing these ideals will find it necessary to adopt coercive methods that are incompatible with freedom. Thus socialists must choose between their egalitarian goals and the preservation of individual liberty. Hayek describes how Europeans came to expect progress, and became impatient for faster progress. The liberal reforms of the 19th century delivered unprecedented economic progress. Much of this was directly due to scientific discovery. The role of free competition in promoting scientific discovery was less obvious. Europeans increasingly came to believe that scientific planning of society itself could accelerate greater progress.

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