Adam Smith and the Making of the Modern World

Adam Smith was one of the three founders of modern classical economics, along with Malthus and Ricardo. Yet he was much more than an economist. He was a true polymath with a vast width of knowledge and a close friend of the philosopher David Hume. To understand him we have to look not just at his famous Wealth of Nations (1776) but also his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Lectures on Jurisprudence (1982) and his Essays on Philosophical Subjects (1982). Bringing his life and work together we see a man who decisively shaped our modern world and laid out the blue-print for modern affluence. Alan Macfarlane, F. B. A., is an Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Cambridge University and a Life Fellow of King's College. His website is alanmacfarlane.com.