The once commonly held idea that central direction of the economy by the government is a more efficient and fair method to allocate resources than a free market is now almost universally discredited, in no small part due to the works of Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992). In the first full biography of this visionary thinker, Alan Ebenstein chronicles Hayek's life, works and legacy from his early years in fin-de-siecle Vienna to his career as a Nobel Prize-winning economist, political philosopher and leading public intellectual. Providing in-depth, critical and accessible accounts of Hayek's major works and how they came to be written, Ebenstein gives us a much richer understanding of the personal, historical and intellectual circumstances surrounding such classics as "The Road to Serfdom", "Law, Legislation and Liberty" and "The Fatal Conceit". In so doing he sheds new light on Hayek's risky, often lonely, but ultimately triumphant struggle to alert the world to the economic and political dangers of classical socialism and the virtues of free markets, free ideas and free societies.

秋风，学者，现居北京。已出版译著《财产、法律与政府―巴斯夏政治经济学文粹》、《哈耶克与古典自由主义》（贵州人民出版社）、《知识分子为什么反对自由市场》、《资本主义与历史学家》、《反资本主义的心态》（吉林人民出版社）。并发表了大量经济评论文章。目前主要从事古典自由主义理论与奥地利学派经济学的译介、研究。