The progressive economics writer redefines the national
conversation about American freedom
“Mike Konczal
[is] one of our most powerful advocates of financial reform, [a]
heroic critic of austerity, and a huge resource for progressives.”
—Paul Krugman
Health insurance,
student loan debt, retirement security, child care, work-life
balance, access to home ownership—these are the issues driving
America’s current political debates. And they are all linked, as
this brilliant and timely book reveals, by a single question: should
we allow the free market to determine our lives?
In the tradition of
Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, noted economic commentator Mike
Konczal answers this question with a resounding no. Freedom from
the Market blends passionate political argument and a bold new
take on American history to reveal that, from the earliest days of
the republic, Americans have defined freedom as what we keep free
from the control of the market. With chapters on the history of the
Homestead Act and land ownership, the eight-hour work day and free
time, social insurance and Social Security, World War II day cares,
Medicare and desegregation, free public colleges, intellectual
property, and the public corporation, Konczal shows how citizens have
fought to ensure that everyone has access to the conditions that make
us free.
At a time when
millions of Americans—and more and more politicians—are
questioning the unregulated free market, Freedom from the Market
offers a new narrative, and new intellectual ammunition, for the
fight that lies ahead.
