Stuart Chase in the Herald Tribune called this book about capitalism "the most realistic political treatise of the lot" and adds that "one must be tough and pitiless honesty and pitiless humanity." Some people may disagree with the fi rst assertion, but the second cannot be denied, for in this brilliant analysis of our social and economic structure Thurman Arnold pulls no punches.

By "the folklore of capitalism" the author means those ideas about our social and political system that are not generally regarded as folklore but popularly and usually erroneously accepted as...