Thorstein Veblen: Theorist of the Leisure Class

by John Patrick Diggins

Fired by Stanford and the University of Chicago but recommended by his peers to the presidency of the American Economic Association, Thorstein Veblen remains a baffling figure in American intellectual history. In part because he was an eccentric who shunned publicity, he has also been one of our most neglected. Veblen is known to the general public only as coiner of the term "conspicuous consumption," and to scholars primarily as one of many social critics of the reform-minded Progressive Era. This important critical biography--originally published as The Bard of Savagery and now appearing in paperback for the first time--attempts both to unravel the riddles that surround his reputation and to assess his varied and important contributions to modern social theory.

Genres: Biography, Economics, Philosophy, History

310 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1983

About the author

John Patrick Diggins was a professor of history at the City University of New York Graduate Center, the author of more than a dozen books on widely varied subjects in American intellectual history.

Reviews

[m · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book, a kind of intellectual biography in which Veblen is brought to life in order to converse with Marx, Weber, Tocqueville, John Adams, Ben Franklin and others in a sort of transcendental Harvard Yard free of the constraints of time & space. A great romp of ideas, reading this book is illuminative and even consolative.