Newsweek Intern Attempts to Describe Hayek’s Road to Serfdom: Massive FAIL

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Thanks to Kathy Shaidle for calling attention to this sophomoric effort by Princeton senior Isia Jasiewicz:

On June 8, Beck devoted an entire episode of his talk show on Fox News to The Road to Serfdom, a work of political theory written in the immediate aftermath of World War II by Friedrich von Hayek, an Austrian émigré to the U.K. and the 1974 recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics . . .
The Road to Serfdom is a treatise on libertarianism, well-known only in academic circles or among political theory wonks stalwart enough to wade through the 60-page introduction and chapters on “Planning and the Rule of Law” and “The Prospects of International Order.”

Ha. Ha. Haha. BWAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Just a few points:

  • The term “libertarian” in its present meaning was not commonly used until the 1970s.
  • Far from being known only to “wonks,” The Road to Serfdom was a best-seller in 1944 and ’45, going through multiple printings, and was originally popularized through a condensed version published by Reader’s Digest.
  • It was not “a work of political theory,” but an attempt to explain the rise of Nazism and fascism — 1944? hint, hint — as one consequence of the prevalence of socialist ideas. It was a very practical book, warning leaders in England and America that the tendency toward the “planned economy” could produce similar results even in Western democracies.
  • The book obviously wasn’t written in the “aftermath of World War II,” but during the war.
  • As to being “stalwart enough to wade through the 60-page introduction,” my own copy (50th anniversary edition, 1994) includes an 11-page introduction by Milton Friedman and a couple of prefaces to previous editions. The most interesting chapters, to my mind, are Chapter 8 (“Who, Whom?”), Chapter 10 (“Why the Worst Get on Top”) and especially Chapter 12 (“The Socialist Roots of Nazism”), which has never ceased to provoke howls from the Left, who refuse to admit that National Socialism was socialism at all.

Next assignment for Isia Jasiewicz? “The Bible, a theological treatise well-known only in religious circles or among clergy stalwart enough to wade through several pages of ‘begats’ and the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.”

ADDENDUM: Whatever happened to young journalists learning their craft as reporters before trying their hand at punditry or criticism? I suppose it would be slumming for a Princeton grad to take a job as a staff writer for a newspaper, covering school-board meetings and such. But am I the only reader who resents being lectured to by 22-year-olds? I don’t care what your SAT score was, sweetheart. You’re not that precocious.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Remember that Professor Reynolds is a Yale Law grad, so the humiliation of Princetonians and Harvardians (e.g., Andrew Sullivan) warms the cockles of his heart.

UPDATE II: As I remarked last week, it is unfortunate that most people who read The Road to Serfdom stop there and don’t pursue Austrian economics or Hayekian philosophy further. One of the finest treatises Hayek ever wrote was The Mirage of Social Justice — which goes in-depth on a key theme briefly explored in Road — and yet it gets short shrift. Hayek famously described the errors of socialism in The Fatal Conceit. 

If you want to read some excellent Hayek for free, I recommend “The Intellectuals and Socialism.” And, oh, yeah, Glenn Beck is right: Buy gold.

UPDATE III: Linked by Greg Ransom at the Hayek Center. Wouldn’t it be nice if the center were Hayekian? 

Little Miss Attila has some great Hayekian video.

UPDATE IV: E-mail from a reader:

I’m a former editor at the [Reader’s] Digest. Actually, RD didn’t just do a condensed version of Road to Serfdom, they published the condensed version in the magazine, which at the time was one of, if not the most, widely read magazines in the country.  One of the reasons it is so well known by a certain generation, is that it was read by millions of people who other wise might not have been aware of it. 
No need to mention me, just the fact, which reinforces that this guy’s a moron.  Cheers.

Thanks!

154 comments

  6. Nicely written post, stuff like that just shouldn’t get printed in reputable publications. Any number of levels should catch it(including the writer or their editors).

  8. The kid even admitted he didn’t read the book. Newsweek has become a parody of bumbling legacy media. In their attempt to mock Beck for promoting the book, they instead demonstrate the “layers of editors and fact-checkers” which supposedly make them more reliable than bloggers are in fact non-existent.

    To compound their idiocy (and ratchet up the schadenfreude), the publication is on the block now, if it were to sell then at least some of its employees might get to keep their jobs – and yet, they produce this! Did they imagine this would help sell the rag to a new publisher?

    If someone tried to set something like this up as a joke it wouldn’t work, no one would believe it.

  9. The kid even admitted he didn’t read the book. Newsweek has become a parody of bumbling legacy media. In their attempt to mock Beck for promoting the book, they instead demonstrate the “layers of editors and fact-checkers” which supposedly make them more reliable than bloggers are in fact non-existent.

    To compound their idiocy (and ratchet up the schadenfreude), the publication is on the block now, if it were to sell then at least some of its employees might get to keep their jobs – and yet, they produce this! Did they imagine this would help sell the rag to a new publisher?

    If someone tried to set something like this up as a joke it wouldn’t work, no one would believe it.

  10. As a perfect post-script to Newsweek’s habit of never letting the facts get in the way of their opinion, Road to Serfdom is (at 11:24 pm on 6/17) currently #3 on the Amazon best seller list this hour, and has been in the top 100 for the past 14 days!!!

    So either Newsweek once again never bothered to check a fact, or that’s one big ol’ “academic circle” chock full of “political theory wonks.”

  11. As a perfect post-script to Newsweek’s habit of never letting the facts get in the way of their opinion, Road to Serfdom is (at 11:24 pm on 6/17) currently #3 on the Amazon best seller list this hour, and has been in the top 100 for the past 14 days!!!

    So either Newsweek once again never bothered to check a fact, or that’s one big ol’ “academic circle” chock full of “political theory wonks.”

  14. From Amazon’s Road to Serfdom page today 6/17/2010 (I hope this formats OK; you get the gist anyway):

    Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
    #3 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #1 in Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Economic History
    #1 in Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Theory

    It has been bumping #1 for months. So much for “known only in academic circles”.

    Ken
    #1 in Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > Political

  15. From Amazon’s Road to Serfdom page today 6/17/2010 (I hope this formats OK; you get the gist anyway):

    Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
    #3 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #1 in Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Economic History
    #1 in Books > Business & Investing > Economics > Theory

    It has been bumping #1 for months. So much for “known only in academic circles”.

    Ken
    #1 in Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > Political

  16. Another snot-nosed, know-it-all punk, well on the way to becoming a Community Organizer and, from there, the sky’s the limit.

  17. Another snot-nosed, know-it-all punk, well on the way to becoming a Community Organizer and, from there, the sky’s the limit.

  18. “The Bible, a theological treatise well-known only in religious circles or among clergy stalwart enough to wade through several pages of ’begats’ and the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.”

    Hey, I think the above statement is pretty accurate. I have read the Bible and there is a lot of that.

    I also waded through “The Road to Serfdom” and found it very informative. It is, however, not a light read. I heard it was No 1 on Amazon — even with Obama in power, I find that hard to believe.

  19. “The Bible, a theological treatise well-known only in religious circles or among clergy stalwart enough to wade through several pages of ’begats’ and the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.”

    Hey, I think the above statement is pretty accurate. I have read the Bible and there is a lot of that.

    I also waded through “The Road to Serfdom” and found it very informative. It is, however, not a light read. I heard it was No 1 on Amazon — even with Obama in power, I find that hard to believe.

  22. Hilarious. It’s number 3 overall on Amazon, number 1 in non-fiction, and has been in the top 100 non-fiction for six months. It actually sold out the new printing a couple of weeks ago, and the surprised publisher had to to rush a reprint.

  23. Hilarious. It’s number 3 overall on Amazon, number 1 in non-fiction, and has been in the top 100 non-fiction for six months. It actually sold out the new printing a couple of weeks ago, and the surprised publisher had to to rush a reprint.

  24. It’s the irony that embarrases… The Road to Serfdom is partly about the failure of “elitocracies,” as it were, as a competitive model. Don’t know if Jasiewicz has dug far enough to catch it but, well, “Ouch.”

  25. It’s the irony that embarrases… The Road to Serfdom is partly about the failure of “elitocracies,” as it were, as a competitive model. Don’t know if Jasiewicz has dug far enough to catch it but, well, “Ouch.”

  26. I have no problem with being lectured to by a 22-year-old who actually knows what they are talking about when I don’t.

    Sometimes I even enjoy it when a 22-year-old lectures me concerning something they know next-to-nothing about but think they know all about, although usually the entertainment value fades when the person gets to be over 17 and it goes from being amusing to being pathetic. I just close my eyes and picture a world where everyone who thinks there are problems with centralized government planning is a libertarian; Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt & JFK were all libertarians in this alternate world inhabited by the reality based community.

  27. I have no problem with being lectured to by a 22-year-old who actually knows what they are talking about when I don’t.

    Sometimes I even enjoy it when a 22-year-old lectures me concerning something they know next-to-nothing about but think they know all about, although usually the entertainment value fades when the person gets to be over 17 and it goes from being amusing to being pathetic. I just close my eyes and picture a world where everyone who thinks there are problems with centralized government planning is a libertarian; Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt & JFK were all libertarians in this alternate world inhabited by the reality based community.

  30. As we say in Russia – “blyadi”. The Road to Serfdom was published in 1944 – so anyone who says that it was written “in the immediate aftermath of World War II” is an imbecile. Hayek started writing the first drafts back in 1930ies.

    Moreover, surely anyone who cares about political economy is supposed to read this book (and then read “Constitution of Liberty” by same author). This little book influenced Churchil, Goldwater, Thatcher and Reagan – but who expects an American liberal to actually read serious books? This the reason why the media is dying – the people who write articles are stupid and ignorant.

  31. As we say in Russia – “blyadi”. The Road to Serfdom was published in 1944 – so anyone who says that it was written “in the immediate aftermath of World War II” is an imbecile. Hayek started writing the first drafts back in 1930ies.

    Moreover, surely anyone who cares about political economy is supposed to read this book (and then read “Constitution of Liberty” by same author). This little book influenced Churchil, Goldwater, Thatcher and Reagan – but who expects an American liberal to actually read serious books? This the reason why the media is dying – the people who write articles are stupid and ignorant.

  32. Actually, Stogie, “The Overton Window” by Glenn Beck is currently #1 on Amazon. Hayek is #3 and has been a bestseller on their for months now.

  33. Actually, Stogie, “The Overton Window” by Glenn Beck is currently #1 on Amazon. Hayek is #3 and has been a bestseller on their for months now.

  34. But… but you talk about boobs sometimes! You can’t be smart! Only people who drink chi tea, listen to NPR, and hate themselves are smart!

  35. But… but you talk about boobs sometimes! You can’t be smart! Only people who drink chi tea, listen to NPR, and hate themselves are smart!

  39. wombat-socho wrote thusly:
    > Newsweek? A reputable publication?
    > BWAHAHAHAHA!
    > Stop it, yer killin’ me!

    Here, maybe this will help: Newsweak. Any better?

  40. wombat-socho wrote thusly:
    > Newsweek? A reputable publication?
    > BWAHAHAHAHA!
    > Stop it, yer killin’ me!

    Here, maybe this will help: Newsweak. Any better?

  41. Friedrich von Hayek?

    Oh yeah, that’s right. All those crazy Austrians hanging around with Louie Mises were like aristocrats or something. No need to take their ideas seriously; probably all thought we should eat cake too.

  42. Friedrich von Hayek?

    Oh yeah, that’s right. All those crazy Austrians hanging around with Louie Mises were like aristocrats or something. No need to take their ideas seriously; probably all thought we should eat cake too.

  43. Next assignment for Isia Jasiewicz? “The Bible, a theological treatise well-known only in religious circles or among clergy stalwart enough to wade through several pages of ’begats’ and the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.”

    But they told me that if I went to work for Newsweek, there’d be no math!

  44. Next assignment for Isia Jasiewicz? “The Bible, a theological treatise well-known only in religious circles or among clergy stalwart enough to wade through several pages of ’begats’ and the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.”

    But they told me that if I went to work for Newsweek, there’d be no math!

  45. But this is typical.

    Hayek — the most influential economist and political thinker of the last 80 years — is not taught in America’s universities.

    A good question is, Why?

  46. But this is typical.

    Hayek — the most influential economist and political thinker of the last 80 years — is not taught in America’s universities.

    A good question is, Why?

  49. Hayek’s legal name was Friedrich Hayek _without_ the “von” since 1920 — when the Austrian government made it against the law to use the honorific “von”.

  50. Hayek’s legal name was Friedrich Hayek _without_ the “von” since 1920 — when the Austrian government made it against the law to use the honorific “von”.

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