Few 20th‐​century figures have had as much impact, and been so criticized, as Friedrich Hayek—Nobel Prize‐​winning economist, social theorist, leader of the Austrian School of Economics, and champion of classical liberalism.

In Hayek: A Life, historians of economics Bruce Caldwell and Hansjoerg Klausinger draw on never‐​before‐​seen archival and family material to produce an authoritative account of Hayek’s first five decades. This includes portrayals of his early career in Vienna; his relationships in London and Cambridge; his family disputes; and definitive accounts of the creation of The Road to Serfdom and of the founding meeting of the Mont Pèlerin Society.