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George Mason economist Peter Boettke on Bruce Caldwell's Hayek's Challenge:

I just want to say to the readers of this list [HAYEK-L] that we all have to take off our hats to Bruce [Caldwell] for this book [Hayek's Challenge: An Intellectual Biography of F. A. Hayek] l-- it is wonderful and a real page turner. It is by far the best thing written on Hayek and a real contribution to not only Hayek studies, but to Austrian economics in general.

I don't have a blog, but I do have a What's New paper off my webpage (due to numerous request from readers of my webpage to keep them up to date on my whereabouts). I wrote the following on Bruce's book ---

But on the plane to San Antonio I encountered the best book written in Austrian economics in a generation -- Bruce Caldwell's Hayek's Challenge (University of Chicago Press, 2003). Caldwell, as to be expected, is a master historian of thought and constructs a narrative of Hayek's evolution of a thinker that is simply better than any alternative account. And, in the process, Caldwell tells the story of the development of Austrian economics from Menger to today better than I have ever seen. This is a phenomenal work of scholarship and a beautifully written book. This is the history of economics as it should be written --- a subtle treatment of economic doctrine, contextualization of the evolution of argument within its broader history of philosophical, political and economic debates, and engagingly written. As far as economics goes, this book is a page turner. It is nothing short of a brilliant. Congratulations to Bruce Caldwell for writing in my opinion the best book of 2003, and perhaps the best book in Austrian economics in a generation.

During the Dean Smith days at UNC it used to be said that if God wasn't a Tarheel than why is the sky Carolina Blue, I think that motto for the hour should be that if God supports the Austrians (because of truth and justice) than Bruce should be seeing lots of green ---- buy this book, enrich your mind and send a signal to publishers and to Bruce that such work is highly valued by the community of scholars, and interested laymen. Bruce has proven without a doubt that you can write an engaging book, tell the truth and be subtle about economic reasoning as well. Caldwell's book passes the "wow" test when few books really do, and in doing so sets a standard for the rest of us to live up to.

Boettke is editor of The Review of Austrian Economics