The Worldly Philosophers

Ranked #9 in Economic History, Ranked #12 in Philosophersee more rankings.

The Worldly Philosophers not only enables us to see more deeply into our history but helps us better understand our own times. In this seventh edition, Robert L. Heilbroner provides a new theme that connects thinkers as diverse as Adam Smith and Karl Marx. The theme is the common focus of their highly varied ideas—namely, the search to understand how a capitalist society works. It is a focus never more needed than in this age of confusing economic headlines.
In a bold new concluding chapter entitled “The End of the Worldly Philosophy?” Heilbroner reminds us that the word “end”...
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Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of The Worldly Philosophers from the world's leading experts.

Erik Brynjolfsson @AndrewWLo @DianeCoyle1859 Great book. I read it in high school and it kind of turned into an economist (Source)

Heidi N. Moore @VarickBoyd @JeSuisBHL Ah well, I thought you were a veteran of this world, my error. Enjoy the book! It's fantastic. (Source)

Andrew W Lo This book really opened my eyes to the fact that there’s some very deep and beautiful logic underlying the economy, and financial markets and institutions especially. (Source)

Daniel Hamermesh This is the oldest book I’ve chosen by far. The first edition came out in 1953 – I read it in my senior year in high school. That’s one of the reasons I love this book. We had what was called the Honours Social Studies class. The teacher was quite sophisticated, a very unusual guy. He had an MA from Harvard. (Source)


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