The Wealth of Nations (Everyman's Library) [Hardcover]

Adam Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1991

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Published in 1776, in the same year as the Declaration of Independence, The Wealth of Nations has had an equally great impact on the course of modern history. Adam Smith’s celebrated defense of free market economies was written with such expressive power and clarity that the first edition sold out in six months. While its most remarkable and enduring innovation was to see the whole of economic life as a unified system, it is notable also as one of the Enlightenment’s most eloquent testaments to the sanctity of the individual in his relation
to the state.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Adam Smith's enormous authority resides, in the end, in the same property that we discover in Marx: not in any ideology, but in an effort to see to the bottom of things."
--Robert L. Heilbroner


From the Trade Paperback edition.

From the Inside Flap

Introduction by D. D. Raphael

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 600 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library (October 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067940564X
• ISBN-13: 978-0679405641
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.5 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (154 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #447,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

320 of 325 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go with Bantam, February 11, 2007

By 

Amazonian (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wealth of Nations (Bantam Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you're wondering which Wealth of Nations to purchase, get the Bantam paperback. This is Smith's complete and unabridged final version of the Wealth of Nations. It provides footnotes on Smith's wording, the historical context, and the differences between Smith's 5th edition and previous editions. In addition, the margin of the pages contain useful notes which summarize Smith's writing. For the price, this is clearly the superior choice.

Now, if you're wondering whether you should undertake such an endeavor, let me just say that Adam Smith was a professor of rhetoric. He explains everything so precisely, yet so comprehensible. Smith's writing is by no means difficult; I actually found it a surprisingly easy read given its antique nature. Once you get through the first chapter, you get quite used to Smith's writing style. If you put adequate time and energy into it, it's not hard at all.

260 of 274 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Watch Out!, June 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Wealth of Nations (Great Minds Series) (Paperback)

I have no criticism with Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations." My criticism is with the Great Minds Series edition of the book. The Great Minds Series is an abridged version. Huge chunks have been edited out of the book, yet nowhere do they let you know this before making the purchase. I bought this book specifically because I wanted to cite it, and I can't because the parts I wanted to quote have been edited out.

Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" is a worthy book for any private library, but purchase an edition other than the one offered by the so-called "Great Minds Series."

458 of 488 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Great Minds Series version has parts missing!, September 26, 1999

By 

Daniel Krawisz (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wealth of Nations (Great Minds Series) (Paperback)

I was origionally reading the text version of this book on the internet until the printed version came. I was downtroden, sickened, and even frightened to find that the Great Minds Series version of The Wealth of Nations is incomplete, yet gives no indication whatsoever of being so.

The introduction and chapters 2, 3, and 4 of book 3 are simply not there. They are not even listed in the table of contents. There is no discrepency in the page numbers, or any other teletale indication that it is incomplete. It is not written anywhere that it is an abrigement.

I want to point out how careless it is and how misleading to the reader in comprehending the philosophy of Adam Smith to print an incomplete book without any warning.