The big myth : how American business taught us to loathe government and love the free market / Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. Conway.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 430-546) and index.

Introduction -- The social costs of capitalism -- Power plays and propaganda -- Fighting the New Deal -- The tripod of freedom -- "A stringent, crystalline vision of the free market" -- The big myth goes West -- A questionable gospel -- No more Grapes of Wrath -- Steering the Chicago School -- The American road to serfdom -- A love story about capitalism -- The dawn of deregulation -- Magical thinking -- Apotheosis -- The high cost of the "free" market -- Conclusion.

In the early 20th century, business elites, trade associations, wealthy powerbrokers, and media allies set out to build a new American orthodoxy: down with "big government" and up with unfettered markets. With startling archival evidence, Oreskes and Conway document campaigns to rewrite textbooks, combat unions, and defend child labor. They detail the ploys that turned hardline economists Friedrich von Hayek and Milton Friedman into household names; recount the libertarian roots of the Little House on the Prairie books; and tune into the General Electric-sponsored TV show that beamed free-market doctrine to millions and launched Ronald Reagan's political career.