Time Will Run Back (LvMI) and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Time Will Run Back: A Novel About the Rediscovery of Capitalism
 
 
Start reading Time Will Run Back (LvMI) on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Time Will Run Back: A Novel About the Rediscovery of Capitalism [Hardcover]

Henry Hazlitt (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $2.99  
Hardcover --  
Paperback --  
Unknown Binding --  

Book Description

1966
Henry Hazlitt (1894–1993) was a well-known journalist who wrote on economic affairs for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek, among many. He is perhaps best known as the author of the classic Economics in One Lesson (1946). But Hazlitt was well equipped to be a fiction writer. He was literary editor of The Nation for three years and H.L. Mencken's successor at the American Mercury.

Time Will Run Back is an excellent introduction to the problems of economic systems, and can be a great benefit to young people who are curious about the meaning of economic analysis. It is, in fact, suitable for all ages. The Mises Institute is very pleased to sponsor this Kindle edition.
The plot line of this splendid novel, first published in 1951 and revised in 1966, explores the economic theories of capitalism and socialism.

It begins in a fully socialist society in which the new leader, who finds himself in that position only by accident, begins to rethink the economic basis of the system. He first begins to wonder whether the economy is doing well at all, and how one might know. This sets him on a path to thinking about prices and calculation, and about the very meaning of productivity.

Commerce is introduced when the leader decides to allow the trading of rationing tickets; shortly, markets appear — and everyone seems to be better off as a result.

And on it continues. Slowly, piece by piece, he dismantles central planning and replaces it with a market system. All the while, the characters are engaged in a Socratic-style discussion about the implications of money, exchange, ownership, markets, entrepreneurship, and more.
--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Arlington House; Revised edition (1966)
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0006BOFIG
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,119,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (4)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Austrian economics taught as a novel-length fable, September 1, 2007
By 
L. J. Cumbow (Eastern Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
Set in the year 2100, Wonworld is the global socialist police state run from Moscow. Civilization has not progressed (and has even digressed somewhat) since the victory of Marxist socialism over capitalism in the 20th century. A thin, but entertaining, story of political intrigue follows the rise of a new young dictator to world prominence. Because he has been isolated on an island for most of his life (a necessary plot device) he can see that something is wrong in the socialist paradise (but he's not sure what). Slowly and gropingly he (with the help of a similarly-minded politburo member) tries to figure out and correct the problems of socialism. They do this over a modest backdrop of character development and plot twists.

The meat of the book consists of the Socratic arguments between Peter (the young dictator) and Adams (his confidant). Conjoining those arguments are their attempts to implement economic policies (often in dangerous conflict with the status quo) to improve the life of the people. Sometimes they guess right. Sometimes wrong. In either case, Hazlitt uses each situation to teach us something about economics, and this is where Hazlitt shines. He is a master at making economics understandable anyway (in his non-fiction books), but using fiction to dramatize his points works extremely well.

Ultimately, Peter and Adams "rediscover" freedom and capitalism, but not without encountering some difficult philosophical questions - both on their journey and facing them in their future.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Economics of Freedom, July 30, 2010
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
"Human nature, chief, seems to be a little more stubborn than Marx and Engels supposed."

The year is 2100. It's been a hundred and fifty some years since the Russian conquest and the establishment of the Soviet Socialist Republic of the World. The new dictator, a non-dictatorial type who achieved his position accidentally through a fortuitous set of circumstances, is grappling with the dual problems of 1) how to brighten the dreary fear-driven existence of the proletariat, and 2) why the Dictatorship of the Proletariat has not withered away as, according to Marx, it was supposed to do.

The Dictator and his top aide (quoted above on human nature) embark on a series of reforms and in the process rediscover money and free market economics.

In the 1950s, the stark reality of the true face of communism was staring down the free world. This seems to have spawned a brief era of un-Utopias: Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm, Brave New World. There was one more: Time Will Run Back. I discovered this because it's always high on the "this reader also bought" list for people who purchased my own history books. So I kindled it.

As literature, it's nowhere in the same league as Orwell, but it was never intended to be. As Orwell did, this book recreates a world where we are compelled by the state to "be good," with all the horrible consequences. But it is something else: a tutorial on how the Hidden Hand works, how the economy, like ecology, finds the most efficient solutions only when, paradoxically, there is no higher authority making the decisions.

Henry Hazlitt is always a great explicator of the economics of freedom. He is here, too.

America's Forgotten History, Part 1: Foundations
America's Forgotten History, Part 2: Rupture
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Easy introduction to market economics, April 26, 2010
By 
Guy Harrison (Aspendale Gardens, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I read this when I was maybe 13 in the 1970s and it really influenced my understandings of the benefits of free market economics vs planned economies. The plot is a bit stilted, and ideologically it is clearly on the side of less regulation vs more, but in terms of understanding how communism inevitably leads to totalitarianism and on concepts like the "invisible hand" it was very influential for me.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews




Only search this product's reviews



What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   





Look for Similar Items by Category