David Polansky writes an erudite review of Quinn Slobodian’s Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right alongside a new book by Zack Beauchamp in American Affairs. Click here to read the full review. An excerpt appears below:

“Slobodian’s argument is that a seemingly unrelated coterie of “neoconfederates, ethnonationalists, and goldbugs” all emerged out of the same neoliberal milieu with significant consequences for right-wing politics today. At the Cold War’s end, it became apparent that, despite the demise of communism, we would continue to face calls for greater equality under new guises. In response, various neoliberals and libertarians—intellectual heirs of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and others—turned to nature “in matters of race, intelligence, territory, and money as a way to erect a bulwark against the encroaching demands of progressives.” As with Beauchamp’s reactionaries, their goal was to roll back social progress and reinstate older hierarchies. In this, they were compelled to turn against their intellectual progenitors, like Hayek, who emphasized social factors over natural ones, hence the book’s title.”