Galbraith's classic on the "economics of abundance" is, in thewords of the New York Times, "a compelling challenge toconventional thought." With customary clarity, eloquence, andhumor, Galbraith cuts to the heart of what economic security means(and doesn't mean) in today's world and lays bare the hazards ofindividual and societal complacence about economic inequity. While"affluent society" and "conventional wisdom" (first used in thisbook) have entered the vernacular, the message of the book has notbeen so widely embraced--reason enough to rediscover The AffluentSociety.

The Great Inflation in the 1960s and 1970s, notes award-winning columnist Robert J. Samuelson, played a crucial role in transforming American politics, economy, and everyday life. The direct consequences included stagnation in living standards, a growing belief both in America and abroad that the great-power status of the United States was ending, and Ronald Reagan s election to the presidency in 1980. But that is only half the story. The end of high inflation led to two decades of almost uninterrupted economic growth, rising stock prices and ever-increasing home values. Paradoxically, this prolonged prosperity triggered the economic and financial collapse of 2008 and 2009 by making Americans from bank executives to ordinary homeowners overconfident, complacent, and careless. The Great Inflation and its Aftermath , Samuelson contends, demonstrated that we have not yet escaped the boom-and-bust cycles common in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This is a sobering tale essential for anyone wh

In this indispensable book, urban visionary JaneJacobs--renowned author of The Death and Life of Great AmericanCities and The Economy of Cities--convincingly argues that asagrarianism gives way to a technology-based future, we stand on thebrink of a new dark age, a period of cultural collapse. Jacobspinpoints five pillars of our culture that are in serious decay:community and family; higher education; the effective practice ofscience; taxation, and government; and the self-regulation of thelearned professions. The corrosion of these pillars, Jacobs argues,is linked to societal ills such as environmental crisis, racism,and the growing gulf between rich and poor. But this is a hopefulbook as well as a warning. Drawing on her vast frame ofreference–from fifteenth-century Chinese shipbuilding to Ireland’scultural rebirth–Jacobs suggests how the cycles of decay can bearrested and our way of life renewed. Invigorating and accessible,Dark Age Ahead is not only the crowning achievement of Jane Jacobs’c