Synopsis
An anthology arguing that genuinely free markets, stripped of state privilege for the wealthy, would dissolve capitalism's hierarchies rather than entrench them.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workWhat we call capitalism is not the free market but a system of state-granted privilege; real market freedom would undermine bosses, landlords, and concentrated wealth.
It splits the pro-market instinct from the pro-business one, claiming the left's enemies are products of coercion, not competition.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Henry George, Progress and Poverty.
Reading note
Read it as a collection of arguments in conversation, not a single thesis, and watch how it redefines familiar terms.
Best paired with
Henry George, Progress and Poverty