The neoliberal movement transformed the book and de Soto into an international phenomenon. In 1989 the book was published in English in the United States, with its marketing ambitions reflected in a new subtitle: “The Invisible Revolution in the Third World.” Ghersi and Ghibellini's names were removed from the title page, leaving de Soto as the only named author. The Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, an ex-leftist converted to neoliberalism by de Soto, it is said, and about to become the U.S.-backed candidate in the 1990 Peruvian presidential election (Rothbard 1995, 323–33), contributed a preface. The book carried endorsements from President George H. W. Bush, Richard Nixon, and several others. The Atlas Foundation selected the book for its first Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Award, a prize named after de Soto's recently deceased patron. Promoted with prizes, reviews, and endorsements from the network of European and American neoliberal think tanks and foundations, it became a worldwide bestseller.

Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, loc. 1952