in April 1945 it was not only condensed in the Readers' Digest, it was the first and still the only condensed book to be the first article in an issue of the Digest, rather than being in the back. Hayek was sailing to America for what he thought would be a modest book tour at the time the April 1945 edition hit the newsstands - and he arrived to learn that The Road to Serfdom was a sensation in America and he would be speaking to huge audiences. - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1394906/posts (Warning - this link contains a link to the condensed version itself, but that link is broken, and the correct link, http://www.iea.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/files/upldbook43pdf.pdf is at Reply #45 of that thread).The occasion when I first read The Road to Serfdom by Hayek is lost in the mists of time - I must have gotten ahold of that old issue of the Reader’s Digest at my grandmother’s house some time later than 1945 for me to have been able to read and understand it.But that aside, I think I was born conservative.
The original uncondensed book has gone through multiple printings since then, at least as recently as a 50th anniversary printing in 1994. It has been printed in many languages, and was read sereptitiously behind the Iron Curtain.. . . but that condensed version still constitutes the majority of all copies of Serfdom ever printed.
‘Born Conservative’ might be a good FReeper handle