
Called by H.L. Mencken, "one of the few economists in history who could really write," Henry Hazlitt achieved lasting fame for his brilliant but concise work. In it, he explains basic truths about economics and the economic fallacies responsible for unemployment, inflation, high taxes, and recession. Covering considerable ground, Hazlitt illustrates the destructive effects of taxes, rent and price controls, inflation, trade restrictions, and minimum wage laws. And, he writes about key classical liberal thinkers like John Locke, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Herbert Spencer.
©1962, 1979 by Henry Hazlitt; (P)1996 by Blackstone Audiobooks
"If there were a Nobel Prize for clear economic thinking, Mr. Hazlitt's book would be a worthy recipient...like a surgeon's scalpel, it cuts through...much nonsense that has been written in recent years about our economic ailments." (J.W. Hanes, former Undersecretary of the Treasury)
Here is a case in which the spoken-word leads to better memory retention than the written version did--for this reviewer, anyway. Hazlitt was a remarkably lucid writer, and this short book is justly regarded as a classic introduction to the dismal science of economics. But it comes across even better in Jeff Riggenbach's interpretation. Riggenbach has a knack for making routine discursive sentences come alive. It's not that he's effusive or histrionic, but that his presentation suits the material; he could be a college professor lecturing, the kind of lecturer who really can teach. He sounds reasonable, engaging and thoroughly likeable. (c) AudioFile 2001
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