Choice Review
The Keynes literature, already vast and murky, continues to expand as the great recession lingers. In this slim volume intended for beginners, Backhouse (Univ. of Birmingham, UK) and Bateman (Denison Univ.) offer a reformulation of several previously published articles. The first chapters chronicle the rise, fall, and recent resurrection of Keynes. Attempting to separate the man from the myth, the authors depict a public intellectual with a Veblenesque skepticism of capitalism's moral moorings and a pragmatic appreciation of the transitory nature of economic theory and policy. Economics for Keynes, the Bloomsbury aesthete, is more art than science. Unhelpfully for contemporary economists coping with the current crisis, it is also an art with little enduring aesthetic value. Contemporary problems require contemporary solutions. On this interpretation, Keynes's legacy is the simple recognition that responsible governments must intervene artfully to remedy the inherent instability of capitalist markets. Absent government coordination of investment, saving, and monetary matters, capitalism's moral validity is threatened. A "perpetual revolution" in economic policy is required to sustain capitalism. A final bibliographic chapter makes it clear that the authors' interpretation is but one of many. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers and all levels of undergraduate students. R. S. Hewett Drake University
Library Journal Review
Though Keynesian economics fell into disrepute with the rise of the Chicago School in the 1970s, rumors of its permanent demise have been greatly exaggerated. John Maynard Keynes is back! Backhouse (history & philosophy of economics, Univ. of Birmingham) and Bateman (economics, Denison Univ.) provide a useful context for the many policymakers, journalists, economists, and historians who have recently rediscovered, rehabilitated, or revived Keynes's thought. The duo portray Keynes as a nontrivial personality who was in equal measure economist and moral philosopher, revolutionary and conservative. The brief volume flows with merciful grace through the particulars of Keynesian economic thought, interweaving historical, biographical, and technical details. The Keynes who emerges is not a one-dimensional deficit-spending proponent but a complex philosopher-economist who earnestly calls for perpetual revolution of capitalism to preserve this imperfect but best-available economic system. VERDICT While this book is recommended as a primer for students (and teachers) of economic history, it will also enlighten the general reader interested in the ongoing policy debates of the post-great recession world.-Jekabs Bikis, Dallas Baptist Univ. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.