Adam Smith in His Time and Ours: Designing the Decent Society

This solid, clearly written primer aims to redeem the famed economist Adam Smith's subtle and complex views, which have often been caricatured. First placing Smith in intellectual and historical context, Muller then analyzes The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments , finding in them ``a vision of commercial humanism.'' Though usually characterized as a free-marketer, Smith actually viewed government as crucial to regulating industry and providing infrastructure, states Muller, an associate professor of history at the Catholic University of America. After exploring Smith's comprehensive views of religion, social psychology and social science, Muller concludes by showing how Smith has been misread and wrongly criticized and suggests that Smith's concerns about character, virtue and the institutions to foster them remain relevant today. (Dec.)