Universal Man The Seven Lives Of John Maynard Keynes

Author: Richard Davenport-Hines

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $19.99 AUD
  • : 9780007519828
  • : HarperCollins
  • : William Collins
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  • : 0.4
  • : January 2015
  • : 197mm X 130mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 22.99
  • : December 2015
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  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

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  • :
  • : Richard Davenport-Hines
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  • : Paperback
  • : 1512
  • :
  • : English
  • : 330.156092
  • : very good
  • :
  • : 432
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Barcode 9780007519828
9780007519828

Description

From the bestselling and award-winning author of 'An English Affair', a dazzlingly original thematic biography which throws fresh light on the greatest economist of the twentieth century. John Maynard Keynes is the man who saved Britain from financial crisis not once but twice - over the course of two World Wars. He remains a highly influential figure, nearly 70 years after his death. But who was he? In this entertaining biography, Richard Davenport-Hines gives us the man behind the economics: the connoisseur, intellectual, public official and statesman who was equally at ease socialising with the Bloomsbury Group as he was persuading prime ministers and presidents. By exploring the desires and experiences that made Keynes think as he did, Davenport-Hines reveals the aesthetic basis of Keynesian economics, and explores why the ideas of this Great Briton continue to resonate so powerfully today.

Reviews

'A book which is worthy of its brilliant subject, 'Universal Man' manages to expound Keynes's ideas while shining with his own optimistic spirit. The fact that this is a book about intellectuals and ideas, does not prevent it from shimmering with low gossip. Richard Davenport-Hines is as deft at describing international political summit meetings as he is at evoking the ballet. Lively, funny, original, and beautifully written' A. N. Wilson, author of 'Victoria: A Life' 'Richard Davenport Hines' portrait of Keynes is as vivid as fresh paint. You can see the genius of many parts dashing to Number Ten Downing Street or dancing a jig with Lydia. It's wonderful' Sylvia Nasar, author of 'A Beautiful Mind' 'A superb biography for the general reader ... brilliant' Standpoint 'John Maynard Keynes was indeed the central economist of the twentieth century, a thinker of unimaginable breadth and influence. Keynes lived at the white-hot center of British intellectual and social life in his times, and he seems never to have missed a moment to relish what lay at hand. In the superb hands of Richard Davenport-Hines, one of the most gifted of critics, historians, and biographers at work today, his large life quivers into being, fully fleshed and deeply imagined. This book should attract a wide, admiring audience' Jay Parini, author of 'The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Final Year'

Author description

Richard Davenport-Hines won the Wolfson Prize for History for his first book, 'Dudley Docker'. He is an adviser to the 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' and has also written biographies of W.H. Auden and Marcel Proust. His most recent book, 'An English Affair' was published in 2013. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Literature, he reviews for the 'Guardian', 'Spectator' and 'Literary Review'.