The Marginal Revolutionaries: How Austrian Economists Fought the War of Ideas

A group history of the Austrian School of Economics, from the coffeehouses of imperial Vienna to the modern-day Tea Party

The Austrian School of Economics—a movement that has had a vast impact on economics, politics, and society, especially among the American right—is poorly understood by supporters and detractors alike. Defining themselves in opposition to the mainstream, economists such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Joseph Schumpeter built the School's international reputation with their work on business cycles and monetary theory. Their focus on individualism—and deep antipathy toward socialism—ultimately won them a devoted audience among the upper echelons of business and government.
 
In this collective biography, Janek Wasserman brings these figures to life, showing that in order to make sense of the Austrians and their continued influence, one must understand the backdrop against which their philosophy was formed—notably, the collapse of the Austro‑Hungarian Empire and a half‑century of war and exile.

• King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne
• The Economists' Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society
• Great Society: A New History
• Our Great Purpose: Adam Smith on Living a Better Life
• Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian
• America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It
• Appeasement: Chamberlain, Hitler, Churchill, and the Road to War
• Capitalism, Alone: The Future of the System That Rules the World
• Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World
• Why Liberalism Works: How True Liberal Values Produce a Freer, More Equal, Prosperous World for All