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Free Enterprise: An American History
Original price was: $36.00.$7.60Current price is: $7.60.
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An incisive look at the intellectual and cultural history of free enterprise and its influence on American politics
Throughout the twentieth century, “free enterprise” has been a contested keyword in American politics, and the cornerstone of a conservative philosophy that seeks to limit government involvement into economic matters. Lawrence B. Glickman shows how the idea first gained traction in American discourse and was championed by opponents of the New Deal. Those politicians, believing free enterprise to be a fundamental American value, held it up as an antidote to a liberalism that they maintained would lead toward totalitarian statism. Tracing the use of the concept of free enterprise, Glickman shows how it has both constrained and transformed political dialogue. He presents a fascinating look into the complex history, and marketing, of an idea that forms the linchpin of the contemporary opposition to government regulation, taxation, and programs such as Medicare.
Throughout the twentieth century, “free enterprise” has been a contested keyword in American politics, and the cornerstone of a conservative philosophy that seeks to limit government involvement into economic matters. Lawrence B. Glickman shows how the idea first gained traction in American discourse and was championed by opponents of the New Deal. Those politicians, believing free enterprise to be a fundamental American value, held it up as an antidote to a liberalism that they maintained would lead toward totalitarian statism. Tracing the use of the concept of free enterprise, Glickman shows how it has both constrained and transformed political dialogue. He presents a fascinating look into the complex history, and marketing, of an idea that forms the linchpin of the contemporary opposition to government regulation, taxation, and programs such as Medicare.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Yale University Press, 1st edition (August 20, 2019) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 360 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0300238258 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0300238259 |
| Item Weight | 1.46 pounds |
| Dimensions | 6.13 x 1 x 9.25 inches |
15 reviews for Free Enterprise: An American History
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Amazon Customer –
A nicely researched book which uses a blend of political science and economics to trace the history of the notion of free enterprise. Buyer beware: the entire epilogue feels detached, even tacked on, as it is used to attack the Trump administration, its policies, and the Trump family. Since the author disguises his virulently anti-Trump attack as an epilogue in the book, he, of course, leaves no to support the worn out, mostly baseless allegations.
T Visor –
As a historian, I enjoyed the historical context of the book. It contextualized socioeconomic policy in light of political motivations of both the left and the right. I highly recommend it.
Eric Hobart –
At first blush, it seems that this book should be all about business – the phrase “free enterprise”, at least for some, suggests a way of conducting business without barriers and restrictions upon trade or the like.
In some ways, this book is about business, but more importantly, it covers how Americans have defined the phrase “free enterprise” from a political perspective – not just the Republican party, which consistently has claimed through much of the last 100 years that “Free Enterprise” is in peril, but also by labor & civil rights leaders. Chapter 4, “A Beautiful but Much – Abused Phrase” is fascinating in this regard. Unfortunately, that chapter is, in my opinion, the highlight of the book.
Much of the book focuses on the fact that “Free Enterprise” has been used by people now defined as “conservative” to undermine the New Deal Order. Glickman makes a strong argument for how politicians, starting even in the 1920’s, used this phrase to embody their political ideals, and it only gained headway after the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt started to take shape.
Though the book is intriguing, I think there are things that could have made the book an even stronger argument. There is virtually no reference to the American West, except for citing individual newspapers here and again. Of course, the huge exception is Ronald Reagan, who hailed from California, but his California roots aren’t explored as much as his politics here. Did Americans living west of the continental divide believe in Free Enterprise in the same way that the people on the Eastern Seaboard, Upper Midwest, and South believed? That could easily be another study in itself, but a few mentions here would have gone a long way with me.