"The overall picture of economic reality that Block draws is basically consistent with the wisdom presented in the older and copious international scholarly literature about the 'varieties of capitalism,' which, he claims, 'has been drowned out by the hegemonic view that capitalism is a unified and largely unchanging system. . . whose inner logic must be obeyed' (13), as though it were the 'fixed DNA' of a living organism (144) rather than a set of institutional arrangements built and modified in all sorts of ways throughout modern history (cf. especially chap. 5). This drowning out of alternative conceptions and awareness of historical variants of capitalism is most likely to have occurred in Block’s United States. It is less likely to be so in countries such as Brazil, Switzerland, Sweden, Vietnam, Iran or Germany—and many others, for that matter—where pundits and politicians regularly refer to far less orthodox theories and experiences such as ordo-liberalism, the Social Doctrine of the Church, Marxism, the Scandinavian middle way, Islamic banking, et cetera. Though geographically navel-gazing, Block’s assessment of the American intellectual
bamboozlement and misdirection vis-à-vis economic matters is revealing and commendable. A book like his Capitalism; The Future of an Illusion, which reprises and condenses dissenting notions and observations going from Adam Smith to Viviana Zelizer, is certainly most urgent in today’s United States [...] Finally, a note on Block’s prose, which is sharp, unaffected, and devoid of cumbersome jargon and fastidious technicality. His informed, synthetic overviews of significant historical cases of successful economic development (e.g. nineteenth-century America, 71–77) or more or less disastrous decline (e.g. 1990s Russia, 37–39, and the gold standard regime, 162–64) are true gems of crystal-clear and intelligent brevity. As such, his book should appeal to the educated public at large, well beyond the confines of academia alone."