“A fascinating excursion into the economic ideas and personalities that have deposited most of us at a standard of living unparalleled in human history…engrossing…Nasar, who wrote A Beautiful Mind, …is drawn to intellectual giants. They stomp across the idiosyncratic and readable pages of Grand Pursuit, which unfurls with a David McCullough-like knack for telling popular history….On these pages, the dismal science shines.”--Karen R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Grand Pursuit is a worthy successor to Robert Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers. . . . Nasar’s aim is to put the reader into the lives of the characters of a sweeping historical drama that extends from Victorian England to modern-day India. That she largely succeeds reflects the depth and breadth of her research but also the elegance of her prose.”
--Steven Pearlstein, The Washington Post
I read the book during the year of publication and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have completed Act one in my reread in anticipation of a thoughtful discussion next month. Of the 5 chapters, the one on Schumpeter is the best, but I had forgotten my initial reaction to the descriptions of Beatrice Webb and Irving Fisher. Webb, is presented as a key supporter of the emergent Welfare State and I have been thinking about Amnity Schale's book, The Forgotten Man and the really clear consequence of the hubris that accompanies the pretense of knowledge. Churchill certainly comes across as a Clintonian politician in Nasar's work. For a review of what this consequence is, click here to read Wendy McElroy.
Fisher's impact is very interesting - I couldn't help but think of Paul Krugman as I read with fascination Irving's intellectual and personal journey.
Table of Contents
Preface: The Nine Parts of Mankind xi
Act I Hope
Prologue: Mr. Sentiment Versus Scrooge 3
Chapter I Perfectly New: Engels and Marx in the Age of Miracles 11
Chapter II Must There Be a Proletariat? Marshall's Patron Saint 48
Chapter III Miss Potter's Profession: Webb and the Housekeeping State 91
Chapter IV Cross of Gold: Fisher and the Money Illusion 139
Chapter V Creative Destruction: Schumpeter and Economic Evolution 171
Act II Fear
Prologue: War of the Worlds 197
Chapter VI The Last Days of Mankind: Schumpeter in Vienna 207
Chapter VII Europe Is Dying: Keynes at Versailles 235
Chapter VIII The Joyless Street: Schumpeter and Hayek in Vienna 262
Chapter IX Immaterial Devices of the Mind: Keynes and Fisher in the 1920s 281
Chapter X Magneto Trouble: Keynes and Fisher in the Great Depression 306
Chapter XI Experiments: Webb and Robinson in the 1930s 338
Chapter XII The Economists' War: Keynes and Friedman at the Treasury 354
Chapter XIII Exile: Schumpeter and Hayek in World War II 372
Act III Confidence
Prologue: Nothing to Fear 383
Chapter XIV Past and Future: Keynes at Bretton Woods 390
Chapter XV The Road from Serfdom: Hayek and the German Miracle 399
Chapter XVI Instruments of Mastery: Samuelson Goes to Washington 409
Chapter XVII Grand Illusion: Robinson in Moscow and Beijing 426
Chapter XVIII Tryst with Destiny: Sen in Calcutta and Cambridge 446
Epilogue: Imagining the Future 461
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