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Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left
Karl Polanyi (1886–1964) was one of the twentieth century's most original interpreters of the market economy. His penetrating analysis of globalization's disruptions and the Great Depression's underlying causes still serves as an effective counterargument to free market fundamentalism. This biography shows how the major personal and historical events of his life transformed him from a bourgeois radical into a Christian socialist but also informed his ambivalent stance on social democracy, communism, the New Deal, and the shifting intellectual scene of postwar America.
The book begins with Polanyi's childhood in the Habsburg Empire and his involvement with the Great War and Hungary's postwar revolution. It connects Polanyi's idealistic radicalism to the political promise and intellectual ferment of Red Vienna and the horror of fascism. The narrative revisits Polanyi's oeuvre in English, German, and Hungarian, includes exhaustive research in five archives, and features interviews with Polanyi's daughter, students, and colleagues, clarifying the contradictory aspects of the thinker's work. These personal accounts also shed light on Polanyi's connections to scholars, Christians, atheists, journalists, hot and cold warriors, and socialists of all stripes. Karl A Life on the Left engages with Polanyi's biography as a reflection and condensation of extraordinary times. It highlights the historical ruptures, tensions, and upheavals that the thinker sought to capture and comprehend and, in telling his story, engages with the intellectual and political history of a turbulent epoch.
The book begins with Polanyi's childhood in the Habsburg Empire and his involvement with the Great War and Hungary's postwar revolution. It connects Polanyi's idealistic radicalism to the political promise and intellectual ferment of Red Vienna and the horror of fascism. The narrative revisits Polanyi's oeuvre in English, German, and Hungarian, includes exhaustive research in five archives, and features interviews with Polanyi's daughter, students, and colleagues, clarifying the contradictory aspects of the thinker's work. These personal accounts also shed light on Polanyi's connections to scholars, Christians, atheists, journalists, hot and cold warriors, and socialists of all stripes. Karl A Life on the Left engages with Polanyi's biography as a reflection and condensation of extraordinary times. It highlights the historical ruptures, tensions, and upheavals that the thinker sought to capture and comprehend and, in telling his story, engages with the intellectual and political history of a turbulent epoch.
400 pages, Paperback
Published November 28, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 16, 2016
Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left ; Gareth Dale
Columbia University Press
One of the published reviews of this biography of economist/ thinker Karl Polanyi states, “The rich historical sourcing provides stimulating material for both scholarly audiences and general readers interested in the lives, contributions, and intellectual thought of fascinating individuals and scholars who lived through this particularly era.” (Sally Randles)
Although the reviewer is right about the rich historical source material she may be mistaken about this book being accessible to the general readers. First I don’t know how many general readers are interested in reading a book about a political economist. Secondly, and more to the point, I don’t know how many general readers would be willing to stop and pick up a dictionary every few pages to find the meanings of the words the author uses to write the story.
Maybe it is a requirement of Columbia University Press to use as many obscure and little used words as possible to convey a thought that could be said with much simpler words. Maybe the Dr. Fox hypothesis is being tested.
I don’t think it is necessary for me to include my resume or speak of my experience with language to remind the author that it would have been a much easier read had he used words that most people understand. One example out of many may suffice—in one place he uses the word “bruited”. For the record I did not have to look it up because I have a diploma in French and I know what bruited means. But there is a great English expression that would work just as well—it was noised abroad.
All that being said, and the preceding is my only complaint, this is a great read. Just this past year The Great Transformation was listed as one of the top 25 books on economics. "Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left" places Karl Polanyi in the context of his family, his time and his culture, the Sitz im Leben of Karl Polanyi to put it another way.
Karl Polanyi was very much a person influenced by the events taking place, the cultural shift and the situation of his family. To a great extent that is true of all of us. Sometimes we go with the flow and sometimes we stand against the flow. We can say that Karl Polanyi exercised both positive and negative rheotaxis in response to his culture.
The author gives a great historical overview of Habsburg Empire and the conditions in that atmosphere that provided impetus to Karl and other thinkers. The author writes, “It was here and now, that methodological individualism was first introduced into economic theory and here, too, that the priest we being elbowed out by the therapist as the provider of meaningful narratives of life.” (Location 90 on my Kindle).The author goes on to point out there was also a tension in the time between individualism and communitarianism.
It is obvious that the culture and the time in which Karl Polanyi lived and worked are part of his story and therefore this book provides a valuable piece of his story. The book is well researched and Karl’s contemporaries are referenced and quoted. In this same vein the reference to Karl’s contemporaries reminds us that Karl did not live in isolation but many of his ideas came in conversation and community with others. When John Donne wrote that no man is an island he reminded us of the importance of community. In Karl’s case it wasn’t just a community of economists and philosophers but also included the poet Ady
As I read how Jews were treated in Central Europe at this time I thought of the expression “when you point a finger at someone you are pointing three fingers at yourself”. Those who criticize Karl Polanyi leaning to the left certainly cannot absolve themselves of responsibility. The climate of Central Europe drove Jewish people to the margins and “accounted for the predisposition of Central European Jewish intellectuals to join revolutionary movements”.
The record of the marginalization of the Jewish people was one of the most disturbing things I found in this book. We should be reminded that years later they were not just marginalized but depersonalized.
I think Columbia University Press should be pleased with this biography of one of her former professors. I recommend this book for its research, historical overview and storytelling and for giving readers an opportunity to grow their vocabulary even if they never use the words themselves.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com with the understanding that I would write a review.
Columbia University Press
One of the published reviews of this biography of economist/ thinker Karl Polanyi states, “The rich historical sourcing provides stimulating material for both scholarly audiences and general readers interested in the lives, contributions, and intellectual thought of fascinating individuals and scholars who lived through this particularly era.” (Sally Randles)
Although the reviewer is right about the rich historical source material she may be mistaken about this book being accessible to the general readers. First I don’t know how many general readers are interested in reading a book about a political economist. Secondly, and more to the point, I don’t know how many general readers would be willing to stop and pick up a dictionary every few pages to find the meanings of the words the author uses to write the story.
Maybe it is a requirement of Columbia University Press to use as many obscure and little used words as possible to convey a thought that could be said with much simpler words. Maybe the Dr. Fox hypothesis is being tested.
I don’t think it is necessary for me to include my resume or speak of my experience with language to remind the author that it would have been a much easier read had he used words that most people understand. One example out of many may suffice—in one place he uses the word “bruited”. For the record I did not have to look it up because I have a diploma in French and I know what bruited means. But there is a great English expression that would work just as well—it was noised abroad.
All that being said, and the preceding is my only complaint, this is a great read. Just this past year The Great Transformation was listed as one of the top 25 books on economics. "Karl Polanyi: A Life on the Left" places Karl Polanyi in the context of his family, his time and his culture, the Sitz im Leben of Karl Polanyi to put it another way.
Karl Polanyi was very much a person influenced by the events taking place, the cultural shift and the situation of his family. To a great extent that is true of all of us. Sometimes we go with the flow and sometimes we stand against the flow. We can say that Karl Polanyi exercised both positive and negative rheotaxis in response to his culture.
The author gives a great historical overview of Habsburg Empire and the conditions in that atmosphere that provided impetus to Karl and other thinkers. The author writes, “It was here and now, that methodological individualism was first introduced into economic theory and here, too, that the priest we being elbowed out by the therapist as the provider of meaningful narratives of life.” (Location 90 on my Kindle).The author goes on to point out there was also a tension in the time between individualism and communitarianism.
It is obvious that the culture and the time in which Karl Polanyi lived and worked are part of his story and therefore this book provides a valuable piece of his story. The book is well researched and Karl’s contemporaries are referenced and quoted. In this same vein the reference to Karl’s contemporaries reminds us that Karl did not live in isolation but many of his ideas came in conversation and community with others. When John Donne wrote that no man is an island he reminded us of the importance of community. In Karl’s case it wasn’t just a community of economists and philosophers but also included the poet Ady
As I read how Jews were treated in Central Europe at this time I thought of the expression “when you point a finger at someone you are pointing three fingers at yourself”. Those who criticize Karl Polanyi leaning to the left certainly cannot absolve themselves of responsibility. The climate of Central Europe drove Jewish people to the margins and “accounted for the predisposition of Central European Jewish intellectuals to join revolutionary movements”.
The record of the marginalization of the Jewish people was one of the most disturbing things I found in this book. We should be reminded that years later they were not just marginalized but depersonalized.
I think Columbia University Press should be pleased with this biography of one of her former professors. I recommend this book for its research, historical overview and storytelling and for giving readers an opportunity to grow their vocabulary even if they never use the words themselves.
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com with the understanding that I would write a review.
February 11, 2018
Lew Button has written a brilliant review below which I agree with in every respect (although my favorite overwrought word in Dale's book is "propaedeutic"; I actually got to the point where I sort of enjoyed the word search). Despite knowing nothing about Polanyi and his work, I came to this after reading a review in the New York Review of Books and in light of my interest in 20th century intellectual history. While I appreciate his critique of market capitalism and his conclusion that the self-regulating economy is in conflict with democracy and social integration, I found little in Dale's description of Polanyi's real world application of those views, particularly his ongoing apologies for the Stalinist Soviet Union, to be of any value.
Nevertheless, as Dale writes in his Epilogue: "One reason why thinking through Polanyi's life is a rewarding exercise is that it enables us to think through the experience of reformist socialism, to explore a world that now seems marginal, even lost, and yet which only two or three generations ago was carving deep and distinctive tracks across the political and cultural landscape." Dale's book will appeal to very few general readers but to those interested in social democracy, I recommend it highly.
Nevertheless, as Dale writes in his Epilogue: "One reason why thinking through Polanyi's life is a rewarding exercise is that it enables us to think through the experience of reformist socialism, to explore a world that now seems marginal, even lost, and yet which only two or three generations ago was carving deep and distinctive tracks across the political and cultural landscape." Dale's book will appeal to very few general readers but to those interested in social democracy, I recommend it highly.
December 11, 2021
Great stuff. Most of it is based on Polanyi's archive. Highly recommend both as a lively biography and as a companion to Polanyi's ideas and motivations behind research program(s) – not only sympathetic but contextualizing and at times critical too.
April 8, 2019
The book does a fine job at presenting Polanyi's life. It just didn't articulate his ideas very well, its not the place to get a more detailed understanding.
April 23, 2019
It took awhile to get through, had a lot of information.
February 8, 2025
Not a very good example of intellectual biography, failing to give a sense of Polyani's personality and the ideas he was pre-occuppied with.
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January 29, 2018Biog P762d 2018
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews