Teachings from the Worldly Philosophy: Robert Heilbroner
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This sequel to Heilbroner’s classic survey of the great economists, The Worldly Philosophers, published four decades ago, is an anthology of writings of some 20 economic thinkers ranging from Aristotle to Malthus, Marx, Veblen and Schumpeter, with interlinking commentaries. Making the dismal science palatable with carefully chosen selections, Heilbroner often highlights underappreciated aspects of these economists’ thinking; for example, Lord Keynes’s wholly negative appraisal of Marxism, or Adam Smith’s scathing critique of landlords and capitalists. He lets the thinkers speak for themselves as they analyze the workings of a market-driven economy and how it molds the behaviors of ordinary people. This adventurous omnibus includes economic insights from the Bible and Bernard Mandeville’s 1705 poem, “The Grumblilng Hive,” upholding mild fraud, luxury and appeals to pride as necessary agents of a prosperous business civilization. Heilbroner concludes that economics is inextricably sociopolitical in nature, and he urges a new crop of dissenting economists to take full account of ecological threats, political instabilities and new technologies.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Heilbroner (economics emeritus, New Sch. for Social Research) is the author of the widely read The Worldly Philosophers (1953), which concerns the evolution of economic theory. In a new work, he has compiled a companion volume consisting of short selections of economic thought from the writings of major figures such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Thomas Malthus of the Classical School; their later 19th-century dissenters, Karl Marx and Thorstein Veblen; and John Maynard Keynes, whose seminal works appeared in the late 1930s. Heilbroner’s lucidly written commentaries illuminate the leading ideas and locate them in their social context. His book will be useful mostly as a supplement to works on economic theory and principles. Recommended for academic libraries.?Harry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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