This splendid collection of 22 essays could just as well be titled "How Capitalism Saved Millions from Starvation." It answers one of the most crucial, enduring allegations about free market capitalism-that it made people poorer and exploited children, necessitating extensive government regulation. A standout is the essay by Ludwig von Mises, which reads in part: "The factories freed the authorities and the ruling landed aristocracy from an embarrassing problem that had grown too large for them. They provided sustenance for the masses of paupers. They emptied the poorhouses, the workhouses, and the prisons. They converted starving beggars into self-supporting breadwinners." Other essays tell how capitalism enabled millions to lift themselves up from wretchedness; chronicle government exploitation of people with taxes, trade restrictions and paper money; review the appalling legacy of Karl Marx; show how trade restrictions have destroyed jobs; and explain how capitalism liberated women.