The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times And Ideas Of The Great Economic Thinkers [7th Edition]

The Worldly Philosophers is a bestselling classic that not only enables us to see more deeply into our history but helps us better understand our own times. In this seventh edition, Robert L. Heilbroner provides a new theme that connects thinkers as diverse as Adam Smith and Karl Marx. The theme is the common focus of their highly varied ideas -- namely, the search to understand how a capitalist society works. It is a focus never more needed than in this age of confusing economic headlines.

In a bold new concluding chapter entitled "The End of the Worldly Philosophy?" Heilbroner reminds us that the word "end" refers to both the purpose and limits of economics. This chapter conveys a concern that today's increasingly "scientific" economics may overlook fundamental social and political issues that are central to economics. Thus, unlike its predecessors, this new edition provides not just an indispensable illumination of our past but a call to action for our future.

If you are new to economics or want summaries/insights into the greatest economists in history this book is for you. Mr. Heilbroner's book, the Worldly Philosophers, is the best books on economics I have come across and I have endured graduate level economic courses, both macro and micro (along with the undergraduate courses.) This book provides readers with a nice summary and analysis of the great Economic thinkers from Adam Smith, Karl Marx, David Ricardo, Mill, Keynes, Schumpeter and others. I found the book to be very general and not extremely analytical/scholarly if you will.

The summaries of each man's economic concepts and life/times in which he lived were extremely accurate. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the author tries to explain the multi-disciplined nature of economics and how it is a combination of sociology, history, political science and philosophy all rapped into one. If you look at the London School of Economics graduate program you will find over 30 unique Masters Programs in economics as the field is increasingly becoming applied and specialized into different parts of the society. Mr. Heilbroner asks a question at the end such as "are we seeing the end of Worldly Philosophers?" as the field is increasingly getting more specialized and very few economists are tackling the "big picture" anymore and how the various components of an economy (land, labor and capital) are intertwined with each other. Definitely something to think about.....

I found myself sitting down and reading a chapter at a time, 50-60 pages, with no problems at all. Mr. Heilbroner doesn't give you everything but perhaps enough to chomp your teeth into the works of each philosopher on your own. At the end of the book he has a list of suggested readings for those seeking more information on any of the economists/subjects mentioned but, frankly, I don't think many can handle 99% of the stuff.


Thoroughly enjoyable   August 9, 1999
38 out of 42 found this review helpful

I approached this book with the thought that "Ok, ok, I know I've got to get around to reading more about these guys sooner or later" attitude. What a fortunate find, and great way to begin!

The author takes a subject (economics) that is often beyond dry and makes it both entertaining and educational, with lots of surprises thrown in. Every time I thought I had caught the author in a mistake or an oversight (Ah ha! Now I've got you!) he'd cover my questions or thoughts within the next couple of pages or so. The author earned my confidence again and again. I found him to be a reliable guide through treacherous waters.

There's a lot of good history in this book. He tackles each major economic philosopher (and others), makes the man come alive in the context of his times, and relates his thinking to our own time by putting their ideas to the test of subsequent history. I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Smith and Keynes.

The author, like any good educator, doesn't give you everything. He gives you lots of food for thought. I also found the author to be thoughtful and unpretentious. I plan to read more books by him.

My copy also contained a very nice description of suggested readings.


Excellent introductory economic book   June 20, 2005
Craig (NY)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

As an economics major in college, I found this to be the most interesting economics book I've read in the field and highly recommend it to anyone who has any interest in business, economics, or history. It reads like a good novel as it covers each economist's thoughts and lives, and leads up to the present time. After my older copy wore out, I bought the newer edition. I was disappointed to hear that the author recently passed away, thereby making this the final edition (unless others revise it). Another interesting introductory book is "New Ideas from Dead Economists" which I would recommend after Robert Heilbroner's book.


A Great Intro to Economic Theory and History   July 4, 2001
Robert S. Phillips
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

In my 20th Century American Literature class we recently read Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." In conjunction with the book we watched "Roger and Me," a film by Michael Moore. The film chronicles the social collapse of Flint, Michigan, after General Motors closed several factories there in the late 1980's during a time of record profits. How ironic, then, that I should find myself reading a history of economics during a three-hour layover in an airport in Detroit, the Motor City.

I picked up a copy of Robert L. Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers for next to nothing at the Salvation Army. The cover suggests a retail price of a mere $..., a more significant sum back in 1961 when the revised edition was published. Heilbroner's book, however, is not weakened at all by its age. He sets out not to explicate his contemporary economy, but rather to recount the history of political economy by examining its greatest thinkers, beginning with Adam Smith and ending with John Maynard Keynes.

Before any of the biographies, however, there is a wonderful section on the origins of the market system. Heilbroner explains that until the 18th century, capitalism and the market system did not exist as we know them today. The lack of national unity and universal weights, measures, and currency made trade cumbersome. In addition to these impediments, the idea of seeking personal profit was not socially or religiously condoned. (Heilbroner cites an amusing case before the Boston courts in 1644 where a man was charged with making a "sixpence profit on the shilling, an outrageous gain.") Moreover, the economic concepts of Land, Labor, and Capital did not exist. Things began to shift radically in the 18th century, however, spurred along by the Industrial Revolution. As the free market system began to emerge, so did political economists. They form a most interesting pantheon: some pragmatic, some pure geniuses, nearly all eccentric in some way. ("One of them-who was very rich-urged the abolition of riches; another-quite poor-disapproved of charity.") Heilbroner humanizes these philosophers and paints a vivid picture of the worlds in which they lived. By providing such insightful biographical information he gives greater meaning to the economic theories espoused by each. I highly recommend this book for anyone who has an intellectual curiosity about economics but is discouraged at the thought of aggregate supply curves or equations like Sa+M+T = Ig+X+G. Heilbroner is able to explain the theories of Marx, Malthus, Keynes, and the rest in a purely theoretical, yet non-mathematical, way. I do not mean to suggest, however, that the book is a simplistic read. It has a scholarly (but entertaining) style and I found it quite handy to have a dictionary nearby. (Heilbroner graduated summa cum laude from Harvard.)

This book contains the perfect blend of economic theory, history, and intriguing biography. Perhaps none of these men directly swayed the fates of nations, but their collective school of thought could hardly be more influential throughout history. In the words of Heilbroner: "A man who thinks economics is only a matter for professors forgets that this is the science that has sent men to the barricades. A man who has looked into an economics textbook and concluded that economics is boring is like a man who has read a primer on logistics and decided that the study of warfare must be dull."


A thoroughly enjoyable introduction the the great economists   December 31, 2006
Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

This is without question one of the finest popular introductions to any subject written in the past several decades. Heilbroner does not intend this as a full-fledged introduction to economics and certainly could never serve as an introduction to the subject in a classroom setting, but it is an exceedingly well-written, highly informed, enormously entertaining first-dip into what Carlyle called "the dismal science." Although Heilbroner does not neglect either historical context or the ideas driving the worldly philosophers, the account is distinguished by great attention to the lives of the leading economists. He is throughout as concerned to have us get to know the men behind the ideas as the ideas themselves.

I suspect that part of Heilbroner's motivation in focusing so much on the lives of the great economists is that so many of them were such interesting individuals that their very existences dispel some of the stereotype of economics being dull and dry. Mind you, not even Heilbroner's lively pen can enliven some of these individuals' lives. Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Alfred Marshall lived remarkably uneventful lives. But Heilbroner is at his best depicting the marvelously odd friendship of Malthus and Ricardo, the quirks of Saint-Simon and Henry George, the wonderful eccentricity of Thorstein Veblen, and the easy genius of John Maynard Keynes. Not that Heilbroner neglects the ideas. He writes wonderfully about many of the key ideas driving the thought of each of these thinkers, but he neither tries to be exhaustive (he barely touches on the highpoints of Marx, for instance) nor attempt to detach them from the context of particular individuals living at a particular juncture in history.

I have to say something about Heilbroner's style. Today, unfortunately, too many scholars simply cannot write. This has always been true to an extent, but fewer and fewer academics seem to foster the ability to write mellifluous sentences. Heilbroner does not belong to their ranks. He resembles fellow scholars such as Lewis Thomas and Simon Schama in his ability to write memorably, cleverly, and clearly. The degree to which this enhances the value of the book as a whole cannot be overemphasized.

Finally, because today virtually all talk of economics passes easily into political economy, I should say something about Heilbroner's own point of view. I say "point of view" rather than "bias" simply because the latter is one of--if not THE--most abused terms in the United States today (it is not abused in other countries). Talk of "bias" rather than truth or falsity arose in the early 1970s when many conservatives realized that they had lost the debates of the sixties. Unable to win arguments on a level playing field, conservatives wanting to infiltrate the mass media concocted the plan of redefining discussion of contemporary issues in terms of bias rather than truth. Instead of an idea being discussed in terms of its ultimate rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, the Right (largely in response to the famous Powell memo--just Google "Powell" and "memo"--for a world of resources on this--Lewis Powell, by the way, late in life while still on the Supreme Court came to feel that his position in the memo was mistaken) wanted to change the terms of the debate to the particular points of view of the individuals involved (he said, she said). Part of this involved the invention of the myth of the liberal media. The media, they argued, was biased, it was liberal (though it certainly was not liberal). My point is this: having a point of view does not equate to bias, and even having a bias does not mean that one warps the facts to fit one's position. I do not think that Heilbroner is "biased." But his positions do place him at a particular point on the political spectrum. He is very far to the left. Though not perfect, he thinks the reforms of the New Deal were a very good thing indeed. But he is far more to the left than that: he thinks socialism has much to recommend, but he is a realist in that he believes we are, for good or ill, stuck with a capitalist system. At least for now. Thus we do not find a near worship of the ideas of Adam Smith (though in fact most on the Right who bring up Smith actually are talking about the Vienna School's imaginative recreation of him and not the historical Adam Smith) nor a knee jerk dismissal of Keynes or even Marx. I would, in fact, say that throughout Heilbroner, though a leftist, treats all the major figures rather fairly. Had he in later editions of his book extended his book beyond Schumpeter, who ends the book, to include von Mises, Hayek, Polanyi, Samuelson, Arrow, Friedman, Sen, and others, he might have found some he would have found more (Polanyi, Samuelson, Arrow, and Sen) congenial and others he would have found less (von Mises, Hayek, and Friedman). What I want to emphasize he how balanced Heilbroner is.

I heartily recommend this to anyone wanting an introduction to the history of economic thinking. It is hard to find a more successful popular introduction to an intellectual discipline than this. Although first published in the early 1950s, Heilbroner revised it repeatedly during his lifetime, the final time in the late nineties. For a highly readable introduction to the first two hundred years of economic thinking, it can hardly be surpassed.