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Hardcover Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise: How America's Industrial Success Was Forged by the Timely Ideas of a Brilliant Scots Economist Book

ISBN: 0312285523

ISBN13: 9780312285524

Adam Smith and the Origins of American Enterprise: How America's Industrial Success was Forged by the Timely Ideas of a Brilliant Scots Economist

Adam Smith was a Scottish professor of moral philosophy. He published his classic The Wealth of Nations in 1776, the year the American Revolution began. Smith became widely known for his ideas of free markets, laissez-faire commerce, and the "invisible hand." Yet English politicians, landed gentry, and the nobility paid little attention and enacted none of Smith's suggested reforms. The American colonies, however, began their existence as an independent nation in 1781 with no money, no industry, no banks, and deep in debt. The Founding Fathers-particularly Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin-turned to the ideas of Adam Smith to create and jump-start an economic system for America with both immediate and long-sustained results. This little-known but vital part of U.S. history is now revealed in Roy C. Smith's highly readable new book.

Recommended

Format: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good*

*Best Available: (ex-library)

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Customer Reviews

2 ratings

Say What?

Mr Brady's comments begin with an anachronism, and don't get much better. Jean-Baptiste Say was nine years old when America declared its independence in 1776. None of his thoughts on political economy were even published until 1789. Clearly, Say could not have influenced the Founders Mr Brady approves of, at least not literally, in the way he suggests. -- J. C. Legere

Straight-forward, center-right review

Roy C. Smith offers a readable, straight-forward, right-of-center review of the famous economist, Adam Smith. The book introduces Smith's thoughts in basic detail, and spends a great deal of time putting Smith in the context of the American revolution, which of course is when "The Wealth of Nations" was published, in 1776. At times the history seems to drown-out the thems of Adam Smith's contribution, but by the conclusion the author ties up his thesis that Adam Smith's thought had a pervasive and substantial impact on the Founding Fathers, and upon the way Americans have done busness since then. A good read for introductory or undergraduate readers. Author's focus remains on Smith and American context. Little mention of John Maynard Keynes is made, and no discusion of Marx or socialism as a competing alternative. This did not detract from book, as plenty of other books and articles speak to those subjects.
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