The Counterrevolution

The Counterrevolution by Edward C. Harwood was originally published in 1951 as a clarion call for a renewal of the revolution that was freedom and a warning against the statist counterrevolution. Compiled into thirteen chapters, it sketches the developments that led to the advances of Western Civilization by fostering the spread of individual freedoms, assesses the many social and governance issues of the first half of the Twentieth Century, and explains why those problematical issues constituted a counterrevolution as succinctly expressed in Patrick Henry’s warning:“The Constitution is not a document for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government—lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” This is the new a definitive edition published by the American Institute for Economic Research, with a foreword by Edward Peter Stringham, a preface by Frederick Crosby Harwood, and an introduction by Peter C. Earle. The book’s significance traces to its indefatigable defense of classical liberalism – not as some kind of conservative creed – but as a role in making modernity possible against the stasis of the past. Edward C. Harwood (1900-1980) – founder of the American Institute for Economic Research – was a hugely significant figure in founding the pro-market, individualist, and sound-money tradition of thought in the United States, though his role is too-often overlooked. The re-appearance of this important classic re-establishes his place in the pantheon of American greats.