Author · 8 titles

Adam Smith

Adam Smith (1723–1790) taught Europe to look at bakers, pin-makers, and the division of labour as if they were as interesting as kings. The Wealth of Nations is a map of how nations grow rich; Moral Sentiments is a map of how we become decent. Smith is often recruited as a prophet of unfettered markets; the books are wiser and sterner than the slogan. He wrote with a lecturer's clarity and a novelist's eye for motive. Read him for the shock of a system that still includes sympathy. Our 8 titles open that double shelf — wealth, and the heart that has to live with it.

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