The Authentic Adam Smith: His Life and Ideas (Enterprise) - Hardcover

James Buchan, a leading novelist and historian, won the Duff Cooper Award for Frozen Desire. His most recent work is a study of Enlightenment Edinburgh, Crowded with Genius. He lives in Norfolk, England.

In this thorough, encyclopedic study, Buchan goes beyond the modern myth of Adam Smith-father of the laissez-faire approach to free markets and champion of small government-to find a more nuanced view, one that supercedes the narrow views of contemporary disciples such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Taking the reader deep into Smith's works and beliefs, Buchan produces a thinker as often concerned with philosophy and aesthetics as with economics and finance, a man of immense gifts, nearly unlimited potential, and unrestrained drive who, although he achieved much, "meant to have done more." Smith died at 67 the author of perhaps the first great work of modern economics (The Wealth of Nations), but still hoping to complete treatises on the visual and performing arts and to revisit his first major book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Buchan clearly knows his subject, as his treatment is detailed and backed up with ample endnotes, and this volume will be of great interest to specialists or those with a strong background in Smith's work. However, the book takes a rather flat approach to its subject, moving evenly and predictably from beginning to end, without any effort at dramatic tension or narrative energy.
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