This work is one of the few books written during the mid-century period of hyper-nationalism that comes to terms with a gigantic puzzle. How did the age of mercantilism become the age of free trade only to revert again in the 20th century? It is an important problem to solve. Heilperin locates the issue as an ideological-political one. Faith in liberty declined at the same time the total state rose. The result was economic nationalism that was destructive to world prosperity and peace.