Henry Hazlitt Unbound
Pamphlets, Markets, and Economic Education after World War II
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4297674 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Paul Charles Milazzo (Department of History, Ohio University ([email protected]), corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | S1 |
| Pages | 75-101 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182702-10875016 |
| OpenAlex | W4385955392 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 13 |
Previous scholars have described the American business journalist Henry Hazlitt as "an intellectual middleman for orthodox economics." This article examines Hazlitt's career during the immediate post-World War II era to flesh out how he performed this intermediary role in a specific historical context. A spotlight on unbound print media demonstrates how they enabled Hazlitt to transmit his ideas about the postwar political economy beyond traditional mainstream venues, extending and animating the reading public. Hazlitt's engagement with pamphlet literature likewise inspired a collaboration with Leonard Read that helped lay the groundwork for the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), the first postwar libertarian think tank. Hazlitt and FEE embarked on a reciprocal relationship during the organization's early years: FEE raised Hazlitt's profile by publicizing and disseminating his influential books Economics in One Lesson (1946) and Will Dollars Save the World? (1947) in pamphlet form, while the organization sought to build its brand by linking itself to the journalist's mainstream credibility. Examining Hazlitt's pamphlet trail in this way reaffirms his popular reach; underscores his unique role as an intellectual, interpersonal, and institutional go-between; and makes a case for his inclusion alongside other key figures in the historiography of the twentieth-century American Right
Context (archaeology · Credibility · Historiography · Knight · Mainstream · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Reading (process · Sociology · American History and Culture · Economic Theory and Institutions · History · Law · Political Economy and Marxism
The Great Persuasion
Economic Liberals as Quasi-Public Intellectuals
Individualism and Economic Order
Selling the Marshall Plan at Home
The Revolt of the Conservatives
Invisible Hands
Pocketbook Politics
One Nation Under God
The Three "Furies" of Libertarianism
"Henry Hazlitt as an Intellectual Middleman of "Orthodox Economics
Seventeenth-Century Pamphlets as Constituents of a Public Communications Space
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |