Is a 2017 National Book Award Finalist Book Built Upon a Simple Typo?

Don Boudreaux writes:

Anyone who still clings to the fantastic notion that Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains is a serious work of scholarship that deserves its nomination for the 2017 National Book Award – rather than a sack of comical errors and astonishing ignorance the publication of which would deeply embarrass any serious scholar – should read this new post by Phil Magness.  Here’s Phil’s conclusion: 

So there you have it. A finalist for the 2017 National Book Award appears to have been built upon a typo.

  -RW