I was blown away by this book when I first read it, back in the 1970s. And I give it three stars because it did introduce me to many of the ideas and thinkers Hofstadter highlights.



But I can't give it more than that. Hofstadter overstates the significance of social Darwinism. It wasn't the whole of the case for laissez-faire economics. After all, David Ricardo made that case well before Darwin saw any finches on any islands. And Ricardo's disciple, Harriet Martineau, was popularizing and idealizing the free-market case in the 1830s, still long before Darwin or Spencer or the rest of this lot.



In the US, the arguments of classical economists combined with the old Puritan ethos to gain force. One interpretation of Darwinism strengthened such thoughts, but RH takes that out of context.