The Hidden History of Neoliberalism

How Reaganism Gutted America and How to Restore Its Greatness

By: Thom Hartmann

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Progressive radio host Thom Hartmann reveals how and why neoliberalism became so prevalent in the United States and why it's time for us to turn our backs to it.

While America is at a crossroads regarding its economic future, many of us don’t fully understand how we got here. In this powerful and accessible book, Thom Hartmann demystifies neoliberalism and explains how we can use this pivotal point in time to create a more positive future.

This book traces the history of neoliberalism—which applies to a set of capitalistic philosophies favoring free trade, financial austerity, and deregulation—up to the present. Hartmann explains how neoliberalism was sold as a cure for wars and the Great Depression. He outlines the impact that it has had on America, looking at different sectors, including healthcare, unemployment, and education.

Hartmann highlights how America can go one of two ways: continue going down the road to neoliberal oligarchy, as supported by the GOP, or choose to return to FDR’s Keynesian economics, raise taxes on the rich, reverse free trade, and create a more pluralistic society.

©2022 Thom Hartmann (P)2022 Thom Hartmann

Concise timeline of how we’ve gotten where we are today

I recommend this to anyone curious about our current state of being as a nation and how we’ve gotten here.

Required reading

Thom’s whole Hidden History series should be required reading in high schools. The most cogent look at issues facing the post-Enlightenment governmental experiments.

Everyone needs to read this book

The book does cover all that is wrong with neoliberal thinking and the experiences with neoliberal thinking. But what seems missing is any plausible explanation of how anyone, much less trained economists, could find to support such a crazy scheme. What kind of argument could possibly be developed for it ever to have seemed to make economic sense. Maybe that is for a sequel.

Perfectly Engaging

Explains the concept so well and then gives you a story with clear examples, perfect for my purposes of learning about Neoliberalism.

A clear explanation of income inequality

This is a concise history showing how the wealthy hoard wealth and the techniques they have learned to keep the rest of us from understanding what's going on.