‘Mr. Wapshott has
written an important book. It is compelling not only as a history of two
distinctive thinkers and their influence, but also as a narrative of political
decision-making and its underlying priorities. Underlying Mr. Wapshott’s
analysis are vital questions for this moment in American history: What kind of
society do we want? How much faith do we have in individual agency? And what do
we owe to our fellow citizens and our collective future? ‘As Mr. Wapshott
writes, these very questions animated Keynes and Hayek during a time when the
stakes were also very high.’  John Cassidy, The New Yorker ‘I heartily recommend Nicholas Wapshott's new book, “Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics.” Many books have been written about Keynes, but nobody else has told the story properly of his relationship with Hayek. Nick has filled the gap in splendid fashion, and I defy anybody -- Keynesian, Hayekian, or uncommitted -- to read his work and not learn something new.’  Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War
‘It was John Maynard Keynes who quipped how "Even the most practical man of affairs is usually in the thrall of the ideas of some long-dead economist", and, as this fascinating book shows, we are indeed all still in thrall to ideas that were sparked in the great debate between two economists - Friedrich Hayek and Keynes himself – over eighty years ago. ‘As we consider all of the great economic and financial issues facing the West today – tax rates, the role of the state, deficit spending versus austerity measures, sovereign debt, monopolies, the money supply, and so on – we see how our thinking about them was moulded by these two giant protagonists, and are still being fought out within the parameters that they set in the Twenties and Thirties. ‘In the fluency of his writing and his ability to make complex financial questions easily comprehensible, Nicholas Wapshott has done Economics itself a great service, by opening the subject up to the general reader, as seen through the prism of one of the most important intellectual gladiatorial contests of modern times.’  ‘Nicholas Wapshott brings the Keynes-Hayek fight of the 20th century back to life, making the clash both entertaining and highly relevant for understanding economic crises of the 21st century. ‘This fascinating book surpasses—and fills a void left by—Robert Heilbroner’s 1953 classic history of economic thought, The Worldly Philosophers, which devoted only one page to Hayek.’
Sean Wilentz, Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor of History at Princeton University ‘Nicholas Wapshott's Keynes Hayek is a smart and absorbing account of one of the most fateful encounters in modern history, remarkably rendered as a taut intellectual drama. ‘Wapshott brilliantly brings to life the human history of ideas that continue to mold our world.’
Read extracts from Keynes Hayek Buy Keynes Hayek online in Australia If you want to be sent Wapshott's articles as they are published, write wapshott@nyc.rr.com with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line  What Keynes and Hayek were really like
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