Radicals for Capitalism

A narrative history of the American libertarian movement — where its ideas came from, who carried them, and how a fringe intellectual current with no institutional home in 1945 acquired magazines, think tanks, donors and a presence in national politics. Doherty organises the book around five central figures (Mises, Hayek, Rand, Rothbard and Friedman) and is a sympathetic but unsparing chronicler of the movement’s schisms.

Why it’s on the list: It sits in the Liberalism, Democracy, and Pluralism section as the movement history behind the section’s theory — the record of what happened when these arguments were actually taken up and organised.

Where I saw it: Brendan McCord’s Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, in the section on Liberalism, Democracy, and Pluralism. A structured curriculum shared March 9, 2026 and saved to Kyle’s Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full 211-entry transcription is on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.

Connections

• Capitalism — the system the movement defends.
• Liberalism — the tradition it claims descent from.
• Milton Friedman — one of Doherty’s five central figures.
• The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this came from.