The last two years, in which capitalism has suffered one of its periodic shocks, have given John Maynard Keynes a new lease of life. Read more…

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Ludwig von Mises explained how government-induced credit expansions led to imbalances in the economy.

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Louis Armstrong, a k a Satchmo, a k a Pops, was to music what Picasso was to painting, what Joyce was to fiction: an innovator who changed the face of his art form, a fecund and endlessly inventive pioneer whose discovery of his own voice helped remake 20th-century culture. http://bit.ly/6ptQc9

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Arguably the most influential crank in American political history, Thomas Paine the man—as opposed to Thomas Paine the author of hackle-raising tracts such as “Common Sense”—has been all but lost to contemporary memory.

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One Hundred Years of Freud in America

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How a 19th-century spinster serves as a moral compass in today’s world 

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The Inimitable

A singular storyteller whose life informed an epic writing career

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A German social scientist, political activist and philosopher, Friedrich Engels (1820 – 1895) was, along with Karl Marx (1818-1883), the father of Communist theory. He was instrumental in writing of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, two of the world’s most influential political manuscripts. Read more…

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Kristine Larsen begins her biography of Stephen Hawking with a central question: how has a theoretical physicist known for “esoteric mathematics” and “the secret language of general relativity” become a cultural icon and the most recognizable scientist in the world? While the author still grapples with the same question by the end of this brief volume, Stephen Hawking: A Biography provides a capably concise view of the enigmatic genius, packing a remarkable amount of material into a few chapters. However, the book’s very brevity denies the reader a true appreciation for Hawking’s accomplishments, genius, and inner life. Hawking’s popular science book A Brief History of Time was criticized for its pedantry and impenetrability; quite the opposite charge could be leveled at Larsen’s biography of the man. This is light reading that doesn’t do quite enough justice to its heady subject. Read more…

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