The Big Myth tackles the powerful ideological transformation in 20th-century America: the rise of market fundamentalism and the widespread vilification of government intervention. Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway, renowned historians of science, take a historical and interdisciplinary approach, blending political economy, media studies, and intellectual history. Best known for Merchants of Doubt, Oreskes and Conway have previously examined how corporate-backed science denial fueled climate skepticism. This book continues that tradition, situating market fundamentalism within a broader narrative of mythmaking by American business elites. The book’s four-part structure—Foundations, Marketing, Mainstream, and Beyond the Myth—mirrors the evolution of this ideology from fringe propaganda to dominant political doctrine.
The authors argue that the American faith in free markets and disdain for government were not organic beliefs but the result of a deliberate propaganda campaign waged by business interests throughout the 20th century. They document how industrialists reframed economic regulation as an existential threat to liberty, ultimately embedding these views in public policy and popular culture. In an era facing crises like climate change, labor precarity, and public health breakdowns, The Big Myth provides a chilling diagnosis of how outdated economic ideology continues to hobble collective action. By contrasting foundational thinkers like Adam Smith with neoliberal disciples like Milton Friedman, the authors expose the ahistorical misreadings that undergird today’s deregulation dogma.
The book builds on Oreskes and Conway’s decade-long investigation into the ideological roots of climate denial. Stemming from their encounters with Cold War scientists who opposed regulation, The Big Myth asks how such ideologies gained popular traction in the first place. Drawing on archives, media artifacts, and think tank records, the authors trace the myth’s genesis in industry lobbies like the National Association of Manufacturers and its maturation through institutions like the Foundation for Economic Education. With a geographic and disciplinary breadth that spans corporate boardrooms, Hollywood studios, and Sunday pulpits, the book reveals a robust and well-funded ecosystem of belief production.
Key themes such as capitalism, democracy, propaganda, and risk are woven throughout the narrative. The book shows how business elites linked structural conditions—like labor unrest and antitrust movements—to political threats, then used those fears to justify deregulation. Oreskes and Conway challenge simplistic binaries (e.g., market vs. state) by demonstrating how this ideology reframed market regulation as tyranny. Rather than a straightforward rollback to laissez-faire economics, they argue, the rise of market fundamentalism was a reworking of liberal democratic ideals into a business-centered theology.
Chapter 4, “The Tripod of Freedom,” is especially strong in unpacking the ideological framing of capitalism as synonymous with democracy and liberty. Drawing from the National Association of Manufacturers’ 1930s campaigns, the authors highlight how American industrialists fabricated the idea that free enterprise was a founding principle. The chapter intersects history, political science, and communications studies to show how propaganda replaced reality. It also uncovers how European émigré economists like Hayek and Mises were strategically positioned to lend intellectual weight to these claims—recasting anti-fascism and anti-communism as anti-regulation.
In Chapter 11, “A Love Story About Capitalism,” the authors explore how cultural artifacts—films, novels, and religious sermons—romanticized the free market. This chapter draws on social psychology and media theory to analyze the emotional appeal of market myths. Figures like Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan are shown not only as ideological actors but as psychological conduits for neoliberal messaging. The juxtaposition of post-war prosperity with Cold War paranoia creates fertile ground for understanding how myth overtook material reality in the American psyche.
Chapter 13, “Magical Thinking,” offers a compelling economic critique. Here, the authors shift to macroeconomic analysis to examine the real-world impact of deregulation and privatization, particularly in utilities and healthcare. By situating the rise of neoliberalism in policy decisions—such as the rollback of antitrust enforcement—the chapter bridges economic theory with class politics. The authors highlight contradictions within free-market ideology, such as the simultaneous promotion of “individual responsibility” and reliance on corporate welfare. This policy-centered lens complements the cultural and ideological analysis from earlier chapters, showing the value of interdisciplinary critique.
Some chapters—especially in the middle section—occasionally feel repetitive or overly focused on elite actors. The critique of think tanks and lobbyists is robust, but discussions of how working-class or minority communities responded to these myths are more limited. Certain passages risk flattening complex social dynamics into top-down causality. One or two essays hint at broader implications (e.g., the role of labor unions in resisting market fundamentalism) but don’t fully explore them. More voices from outside the business-political alliance would have strengthened the book’s engagement with grassroots resistance.
While the book masterfully deconstructs right-wing propaganda, it seldom engages directly with its intellectual adversaries—libertarians, supply-siders, or neoliberals—in their own words. This is a missed opportunity. A more generous engagement with conservative or market-oriented thinkers (beyond caricature or archival evidence) could have added nuance and highlighted the authors’ arguments more forcefully. For instance, comparing Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom with its critiques from the left would have contextualized the ideological divide with greater clarity.
The book draws heavily on media archives, advertisements, and institutional histories but tends to overrepresent figures like Reagan, Rand, and Friedman. This focus on charismatic individuals risks reducing systemic critique to a battle of personalities. Furthermore, the reliance on American case studies—while appropriate—might underplay the global spread and adaptation of these ideas. A broader comparative lens (e.g., European social democracy or East Asian development models) would have helped challenge the inevitability implied by the “myth” more forcefully.
At its heart, The Big Myth is a meticulously researched, passionately argued deconstruction of the belief that unfettered markets are the key to freedom. Its greatest strength lies in its ability to show how institutions—media, academia, religion, and entertainment—colluded, often unconsciously, to entrench this belief. Oreskes and Conway deliver on their interdisciplinary promise, weaving cultural, economic, and political analysis into a coherent narrative. While the book occasionally overreaches or underengages with opposing voices, it nonetheless provides an essential contribution to debates about capitalism, governance, and the myths that bind them. In doing so, it helps recover political possibilities long obscured by decades of ideological storytelling.