AnyBook4Less.com	Find the Best Price on the Web Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money Keyword AuthorISBN

Title: The Road to Serfdom: The Condensed Version As It Appeared in the April 1945 Edition of Reader's Digest by Friedrich A. Hayek, Edwin J., Jr. Feulner, John Blundell ISBN: 0-255-36530-6 Publisher: Coronet Books Inc Pub. Date: 01 December, 2001 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $19.50

Your Country USA Canada United Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium France Germany Italy Netherlands Switzerland Currency AutoUSD CAD GBP EUR AUD CHF Delivery Only cheapest delivery All delivery options Include Used Books Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)

Rating: 5
Summary: Why the road to hell is paved with good intentions
Comment: Hayek wrote the original 'Road to Serfdom' which appeared in 1944 and which still, today, is a salutory reminder of the fate which awaits us should we put too much faith in the state under whichever political persuasion.

This little book, a reprint of the version which appeared in the Reader's Digest, deserves five stars for a number of reasons.

Firstly for the central message which it contains about the dangers of the collectivist state and the concentration of powers that such a state holds unto itself. Hayek dedicated his book to the socialists of all parties by which he meant that in all political parties, and indeed in the minds of many who hold no party affiliation, there are those who hold that the only way to achive a particular end is through the power of the state. He shows however, that the state which accumulates power eventually will turn that power onto the people and in the process dehumanizes those that wield power such that any revolting activity becomes justifiable. This book contains the central tenents of his arguments which are laid out in full in the unabridged version. Hayek abhors the development of the state in modern societies seeing the entity which is the state as a sort of evil empire and cautions people to be watchful and on their guard so that they maintain a healthy suspicion of the state and act to keep it from becoming too powerful. Yet, ironically, Hayek sees the tendency for such states to flourish in the so-called free societies of England and the United States. Here in New Jersey, earlier in 2002, the city of Morristown passed an ordinance which limits the number of pets which can be held in an individual household. Clearly the state intervenes too much in our lives already.

Secondly, the original Reader's Digest version, reflecting consumer demand, published this reprint at the front of it's magazine instead of at the end which was it's normal practice as well as exceeding it's normal print run many times over.

Thirdly, the editing down of the original to the condensed size is a marvel given that none of the essential essence of the original is not lost.

Hayek was originally writing in the face of the existing totalitarian regimes which existed in a number of European countries in the early 1940's and the growing strength and power of the USSR. He cautions the free nations of the West to beware the growth of the state and to fight against it. The book has a real contemporary relevance too with the world's attention being foccussed mainly on Iraq but also increasingly on the nations of Africa. Clearly the terrible and dramatic series of events unfolding in Zimbabwe are a horrific reminder of what can happen if the state and it's servants become too powerful.

For anyone believing in freedom this is a must read book.

Similar Books:

Title: The Road to Serfdom by F. A. Hayek ISBN: 0226320618 Publisher: University of Chicago Press (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.48