The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market

"A carefully researched work of intellectual history, and an urgently needed political analysis." --Jane Mayer

The bestselling authors of Merchants of Doubt offer a profound, startling history of one of America's most tenacious--and destructive--false ideas: the myth of the "free market."

In their bestselling book Merchants of Doubt, Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway revealed the origins of climate change denial. Now, they unfold the truth about another disastrous dogma: the "magic of the marketplace."

In the early 20th century, business elites, trade associations, wealthy powerbrokers, and media allies set out to build a new American orthodoxy: down with "big government" and up with unfettered markets. With startling archival evidence, Oreskes and Conway document campaigns to rewrite textbooks, combat unions, and defend child labor. They detail the ploys that turned hardline economists Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman into household names; recount the libertarian roots of the Little House on the Prairie books; and tune into the General Electric-sponsored TV show that beamed free-market doctrine to millions and launched Ronald Reagan's political career.

By the 1970s, this propaganda was succeeding. Free market ideology would define the next half-century across Republican and Democratic administrations, giving us a housing crisis, the opioid scourge, climate destruction, and a baleful response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Only by understanding this history can we imagine a future where markets will serve, not stifle, democracy.

Author: Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 02/21/2023
Pages: 576
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781635573572


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 09/01/2022 pg. 16
Publishers Weekly 11/21/2022
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2022

About the Author
Oreskes, Naomi: - Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University and the author of nearly 200 scholarly papers and popular articles. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Times (London), and many others. Her TED talk, Why We Should Trust Scientists was viewed more than a million times. She is an active participant in the World Economic Forum in Davos. She lives in Carlisle, Massachusetts.Conway, Erik M.: - Erik Conway is a historian of science and technology and works for the California Institute of Technology. He is the author of seven books and dozens of articles and essays. He lives in Pasadena, California.