"The Mind and the Market"

["John Gelles" <johng@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Have you read The Mind and the Market:

Capitalism in Modern European Thought  ?

Does it deserve a thread of its own?

I'll have it in hand in a couple of weeks.

 

John Gelles

 Reader Review from Amazon.com--

*****  I read every word, January 6, 2003

Reviewer: MARK SKOUSEN, from IRVINGTON, NEW YORK United States

It isn't often that I find myself reading an entire book, or taking notes on every page, but that's how intriguing I found Jerry Muller's easy-to-read and profound new book.

 

I am an admirer of his previous work, Adam Smith in His Time and Ours, which I cited several times in my own history, "The Making of Modern Economics."

 

But this book outperforms all previous efforts. It is essentially an historical commentary on the long-standing debate over the cultural effects of capitalism, a debate between the advocates (Voltaire, Adam Smith, Burke, Hegel, Weber, Schumpeter, and Hayek) and the critics (Rousseau, Marx, Arnold, Sombart, Lukacs, Keynes, and Marcuse).

 

I learned a great deal, especially Voltaire's fraudulent business practices, Burke's long fight against the East India Company, Hegel's surprising defense of individualism and the market, the brilliant insights of Georg Simmel, Schumpeter's subtle subterfuge of intellectuals, and Muller's extensive coverage of anti-semitism and capitalism.  ...

 

I won't give away author's perspective on this never-ending debate, but one can only be awe-struck by Muller's achievement. 

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