Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman

"This is an exceptional book. Hirschman's intellectual and political journey is described with sharpness and perspicacity. Family life, cultural encounters, and the imprints of a lifetime highlight the importance and significance of one of the most creative intellectuals of the twentieth century, who had a profound influence on so many people around the world, including myself."--Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil

"From the dying days of the Weimar Republic to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Albert Hirschman was a witness to the political turbulence of the twentieth century, shaping its intellectual trajectory while resisting overarching theories and academic convention at every turn. Meticulously researched, gracefully written, and deeply moving, this biography shines a light on not only one of the most fertile minds of the century, but the entire political and intellectual history of the period."--Dani Rodrik, Harvard University

"Worldly Philosopher is a brilliant book. It is at once a thrilling story, an inspiring and melancholy intellectual biography, and a history of the shifting involvements of social science in twentieth-century public life."--Emma Rothschild, author of The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History

"Albert Hirschman is one of the most distinguished social scientists of the past half century. He has led an exciting and exemplary life, and Jeremy Adelman has researched and written an exhaustive biography. We are all in Adelman's debt for having followed Hirschman's journey, thoroughly and with sympathy."--Charles S. Maier, author of Among Empires: American Ascendancy and Its Predecessors

Worldly Philosopher chronicles the times and writings of Albert O. Hirschman, one of the twentieth century's most original and provocative thinkers. In this gripping biography, Jeremy Adelman tells the story of a man shaped by modern horrors and hopes, a worldly intellectual who fought for and wrote in defense of the values of tolerance and change.

Born in Berlin in 1915, Hirschman grew up amid the promise and turmoil of the Weimar era, but fled Germany when the Nazis seized power in 1933. Amid hardship and personal tragedy, he volunteered to fight against the fascists in Spain and helped many of Europe's leading artists and intellectuals escape to America after France fell to Hitler. His intellectual career led him to Paris, London, and Trieste, and to academic appointments at Columbia, Harvard, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was an influential adviser to governments in the United States, Latin America, and Europe, as well as major foundations and the World Bank. Along the way, he wrote some of the most innovative and important books in economics, the social sciences, and the history of ideas.

Throughout, he remained committed to his belief that reform is possible, even in the darkest of times.

This is the first major account of Hirschman's remarkable life, and a tale of the twentieth century as seen through the story of an astute and passionate observer. Adelman's riveting narrative traces how Hirschman's personal experiences shaped his unique intellectual perspective, and how his enduring legacy is one of hope, open-mindedness, and practical idealism.

Jeremy Adelman is the Walter Samuel Carpenter III Professor of Spanish Civilization and Culture and director of the Council for International Teaching and Research at Princeton University. His books include "Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World" and "Sovereignty and Revolution in the Iberian Atlantic" (Princeton)

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction Mots Justes 1

1 The Garden 16

2 Berlin Is Burning 52

3 Proving Hamlet Wrong 85

4 The Hour of Courage 119

5 Crossings 153

6 Of Guns and Butter 187

7 The Last Battle 219

8 The Anthill 252

9 The Biography of a File 284

10 Colombia Years 295

11 Following My Truth 325

12 The Empirical Lantern 353

13 Sing the Epic 382

14 The God Who Helped 415

15 The Cold Monster 455

16 Man, the Stage 489

17 Body Parts 525

18 Disappointment 531

19 Social Science for Our Grandchildren 567

20 Reliving the Present 599

Conclusion Marc Chagall's Kiss 639

Afterword Sailing into the Wind 653

Notes 659

Bibliographic Essay 699

Index 709