The Literate Economist - A Brief History of Economics (2nd Edition)

''A Brief History of Economics'' illustrates how the ideas of the great economists not only influenced societies but were themselves shaped by their cultural milieu. Understanding the economists' visions - lucidly and vividly unveiled by Canterbery -allows readers to place economics within a broader community of ideas. Magically, the author links Adam Smith to Isaac Newton's idea of an orderly universe, F. Scott Fitzgerald's ''The Great Gatsby'' to Thornstein Veblen, John Steinbeck's ''Grapes of Wrath'' to the Great Depression, and Tom Wolfe's ''The Bonfire of the Vanities'' to Reaganomics. Often humorous, Canterbery's easy style should make the student's first foray into economics lively and relevant. Readers will no longer dare call it the ''dismal science''.