Kniga soderzhit uvlekatel"noe povestvovanie o tom, kak osuschestvlyalis" rynochnye preobrazovaniya v veduschikh evropejskikh stranakh na protyazhenii bolee 200 let. Ekonomicheskaya istoriya perepletaetsya s politicheskoj, opisaniya reform peremezhayutsya yarkimi rasskazami o delakh i sud"bakh veduschikh reformatorov. Pered chitatelem predstaet chereda geroev, izmenivshikh zhizn" Evropy: ot Tyurgo i Napoleona do Erkharda i Valensy. Analiz rossijskikh problem krasnoj nit"yu prokhodit cherez vsyu knigu, kotoraya, takim obrazom, mozhet predstavlyat" interes kak dlya spetsialistov - istorikov, ekonomistov, sotsiologov, tak i dlya shirokogo kruga chitatelej.