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Adam Smith
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 22, 2021
“Adam Smith: The Man and His Works” was first published in 1976 for the bicentennial of the publication of Smith’s most widely known scholarly effort, “The Wealth of Nations”. But since my interest in economics and free trade is marginal at best, I was happy to find that West touches on all aspects of Smith’s life, not just the publication of that one book.
While this is a serviceable book whose prose can be described as a bit professorial and dry, it nevertheless does a very good job at introducing Adam Smith to a general audience of readers who were previously unfamiliar with his body of work. One of the aspects of the book I enjoyed the most is that West draws widely and broadly from contemporary letters, diary entries, and other books in a way that builds up a picture of Smith as a warm, companionable if slightly eccentric man. If you don’t like anything else about West’s effort, it would be hard to say that his admiration for Smith isn’t infectious.
This isn’t for anyone who wants a thorough exposition of the major points of “Wealth of Nations.” There is one longer chapter toward the end of the book where the points are summarized in a perfunctory way, easily accessible to someone whose familiarity with the original has been delayed for fears of economic obscurantism. West also briefly touches on the ways in which Smith’s ideas influenced free trade in his own lifetime and afterward. After this, oddly West wanders off into some of Smith’s opinions concerning the now-outdated “Irish Question” (the significance of contemporary calls for Irish nationality). In short, if you’re looking for a reading guide in an effort to understand “Wealth of Nations” more fully, look elsewhere.
The book tries to discuss, at least in brief, all of Smith’s major bodies of writing. I don’t just mean the “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” which is certainly worthy of study all on its own, but his lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres, his lectures on jurisprudence, and his major essays on philosophical subjects, most of which he wrote serving his dozen-year stretch as a professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University.
West couches all of this in vignettes by friends, scholarly influences, and co-workers – who included the likes of David Hume, Adam Ferguson, and Francis Hutcheson among others – to paint a picture of him as a person. Because they help flesh out Smith as sympathetic and passionate as well as a skilled teacher, they were among my favorite parts of the book. In 1764 when Smith resigned from the University of Glasgow, he tried to return the fees he had previously collected from students because he would have been unable to give his full body of lectures they paid for. The students were so effusive in their praise of his abilities as a teacher and his learning that they refused, insisting that he keep it. While always more comfortable one-on-one or in small groups, Smith seems to have nevertheless been a memorable teacher. West claims that he was among the first professors at the University to not lecture in Latin, thinking that English would make his talks more accessible to students.
Note: In the 1980s, the Liberty Fund (which published Professor West’s book on Smith) also published the Glasgow edition of Adam Smith’s complete works, including everything I listed above in the review. For anyone who has the time and interest in learning about Smith’s encyclopedic range of interests, slowly working one’s way through that ten-volume set would be the ideal way to read this book. If you’re not interested in the entire set, they also sell the books separately. I currently have “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” “Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres,” and “Essays on Philosophical Subjects” in my library and plan to share reviews of them in the future.
While this is a serviceable book whose prose can be described as a bit professorial and dry, it nevertheless does a very good job at introducing Adam Smith to a general audience of readers who were previously unfamiliar with his body of work. One of the aspects of the book I enjoyed the most is that West draws widely and broadly from contemporary letters, diary entries, and other books in a way that builds up a picture of Smith as a warm, companionable if slightly eccentric man. If you don’t like anything else about West’s effort, it would be hard to say that his admiration for Smith isn’t infectious.
This isn’t for anyone who wants a thorough exposition of the major points of “Wealth of Nations.” There is one longer chapter toward the end of the book where the points are summarized in a perfunctory way, easily accessible to someone whose familiarity with the original has been delayed for fears of economic obscurantism. West also briefly touches on the ways in which Smith’s ideas influenced free trade in his own lifetime and afterward. After this, oddly West wanders off into some of Smith’s opinions concerning the now-outdated “Irish Question” (the significance of contemporary calls for Irish nationality). In short, if you’re looking for a reading guide in an effort to understand “Wealth of Nations” more fully, look elsewhere.
The book tries to discuss, at least in brief, all of Smith’s major bodies of writing. I don’t just mean the “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” which is certainly worthy of study all on its own, but his lectures on rhetoric and belles lettres, his lectures on jurisprudence, and his major essays on philosophical subjects, most of which he wrote serving his dozen-year stretch as a professor of Moral Philosophy at Glasgow University.
West couches all of this in vignettes by friends, scholarly influences, and co-workers – who included the likes of David Hume, Adam Ferguson, and Francis Hutcheson among others – to paint a picture of him as a person. Because they help flesh out Smith as sympathetic and passionate as well as a skilled teacher, they were among my favorite parts of the book. In 1764 when Smith resigned from the University of Glasgow, he tried to return the fees he had previously collected from students because he would have been unable to give his full body of lectures they paid for. The students were so effusive in their praise of his abilities as a teacher and his learning that they refused, insisting that he keep it. While always more comfortable one-on-one or in small groups, Smith seems to have nevertheless been a memorable teacher. West claims that he was among the first professors at the University to not lecture in Latin, thinking that English would make his talks more accessible to students.
Note: In the 1980s, the Liberty Fund (which published Professor West’s book on Smith) also published the Glasgow edition of Adam Smith’s complete works, including everything I listed above in the review. For anyone who has the time and interest in learning about Smith’s encyclopedic range of interests, slowly working one’s way through that ten-volume set would be the ideal way to read this book. If you’re not interested in the entire set, they also sell the books separately. I currently have “Theory of Moral Sentiments,” “Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres,” and “Essays on Philosophical Subjects” in my library and plan to share reviews of them in the future.
May 12, 2016
Liberty Fund's edition of "Adam Smith: The Man and His Works," is an excellent look into the life and mindset of Smith. E.G. West does a wonderful job at painting the picture of his life from growing up to his work as professor and then author with his travels.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
July 13, 2019
A very good introduction to Adam Smith, both as biography and in explaining Smith's point of view and where his ideas stem from.
September 28, 2022
Una muy sucinta biografía de Adam Smith. Incluye principales aportes, pasajes de su vida profesional y algunos detalles de las relaciones con con otros autores como su gran amigo David Hume y Edmund Burke.
El libro, relatando la muerte de Smith, culmina con una cita atribuida a Walter Bagehot: "Mientras existan las doctrinas del proteccionismo –y es probable que persistan, siendo los intereses humanos lo que son, y la naturaleza humana lo que es– Adam Smith siempre será recordado como la gran autoridad del antiproteccionismo, como el primero que dijo al mundo la verdad, para que el mundo la aprendiera y creyera en ella".
El libro, relatando la muerte de Smith, culmina con una cita atribuida a Walter Bagehot: "Mientras existan las doctrinas del proteccionismo –y es probable que persistan, siendo los intereses humanos lo que son, y la naturaleza humana lo que es– Adam Smith siempre será recordado como la gran autoridad del antiproteccionismo, como el primero que dijo al mundo la verdad, para que el mundo la aprendiera y creyera en ella".
November 24, 2023
I read this old biography about Smith bc it has been on my selves for years, and I have copies of his Wealth of Nations that I plan to read pretty soon (or want to); yet, after reading this biography, I wish I would have known about Theory of Moral Sentiments (although Wealth of Nations is actually a continuation of The Theory of Moral Sentiments). Nonetheless, I have a feeling Theory is going to be even more interesting to me, and it may have been his best work, had Wealth of Nations been written first. Does that make sense? I guess I better read Wealth first and see what I think, and then read Theory, if possible. Only then will I know which one is better.
February 8, 2016
Una persona notable Smith y un libro que da cuenta de una persona interesante y normal, más allá de lo grande de sus ideas. Cito: "Mientras existan las doctrinas del proteccionismo -y es probable que persistan, siendo los intereses humanos lo que son, y la naturaleza humana lo que es-Adam Smith será recordado como la gran autoridad del antiproteccionismo, como el primero que dijo al mundo la verdad, para que el mundo la aprendiera y creyera en ella.
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September 23, 2010Adam Smith: The Man and His Works by E G West (1977)
July 31, 2012
Great succinct bio of the time, works, and life of the man who elucidated the the dismal science.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews