Capitalism and the Historians

Capitalism and the Historians. Edited and introduced by F. A. Hayek. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, and Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954.

Excerpt:

“The influence which the writers of history thus exercise on public opinion is probably more immediate and extensive than that of the political theorists who launch new ideas. It seems as though even such new ideas reach wider circles usually not in their abstract form but as the interpretations of particular events. The historian is in this respect at least one step nearer to direct power over public opinion than is the theorist. And long before the professional historian takes up his pen, current controversy about recent events will have created a definite picture, or perhaps several different pictures, of these events which will affect contemporary discussion as much as any division of the merits of new issues.”

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