Celebrated author James Buchan breathes new life into Adam Smith's legacy and the beginnings of modern economics.

The Scottish philosopher Adam Smith (1723–­1790) has been adopted by neoconservatives as the ideological father of unregulated business and small government. Politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan promoted Smith's famous 1776 book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, as the bible of laissez-faire economics. In this vigorous, crisp, and accessible book, James Buchan refutes much of what modern politicians and economists claim about Adam Smith and shows that, in fact, Smith transcends modern political categories.

Drawing on twenty-five years of research, Buchan demonstrates that The Wealth of Nations and Smith's 1759 masterpiece, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, are just brilliant fragments of one of the most ambitious philosophical enterprises ever attempted: the search for a just foundation for modern commercial society both in private and in public. In an increasingly crowded and discontented world, this search is ever more urgent.

"In this thorough, encyclopedic study, Buchan goes beyond the modern myth of Adam Smith-father of the laissez-faire approach to free markets and champion of small government-to find a more nuanced view, one that supercedes the narrow views of contemporary disciples such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Taking the reader deep into Smith's works and beliefs, Buchan produces a thinker as often concerned with philosophy and aesthetics as with economics and finance, a man of immense gifts, nearly unlimited potential, and unrestrained drive who, although he achieved much, 'meant to have done more.' Smith died at 67 the author of perhaps the first great work of modern economics (The Wealth of Nations), but still hoping to complete treatises on the visual and performing arts and to revisit his first major book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Buchan clearly knows his subject, as his treatment is detailed and backed up with ample endnotes, and this volume will be of great interest to specialists or those with a strong background in Smith's work. However, the book takes a rather flat approach to its subject, moving evenly and predictably from beginning to end, without any effort at dramatic tension or narrative energy." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Novelist and critic Buchan takes on the unenviable task of fielding recent scholarship and commentary on Smith and locating him politically. He succeeds at finding this darling of conservatism in fact stood squarely within his own contexts and transcended modern political categories. Smith was a sometimes friend of Hume, a man of the world who took only one Continental voyage, and a decided hypochondriac, but his primary virtue was the ability to write not only The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments but to create a foundation for modern commercial society. In the process, according to the assessment of Buchan, he eventually learned that in that modern commercial world just then forming, fashion and power, particularly those of the political bent, were already overcoming wisdom and virtue. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"This is a short book, but it punches well above its weight: the perfect celebration of a man who did so much to alter modern economic thinking." Telegraph (UK)

James Buchan is professor of Middle East and South Asia politics and associate chair of research at the Department of National Security at the Naval Postgraduate School. He lives in La Jolla, California.