The Horrible Proposals of Mr. Galbraith

Professor John Kenneth Galbraith, whom. I have known for many years, was once described by one of his friends as being possessed of a “fatal fluency.” His previous writings range from American Capitalism—The Concept of Countervailing Power, which is a real contribution to economic theory, to The Great Crash, 1929, a piece of vulgar journalism which jeers at the misfortune of those who lost their money, without attempting any but the most superficial analysis of the complex economic events of that period.

Professor Galbraith has now written a book on economics in an easy and lively style (albeit marred by a tendency to crude wisecracks) which is securing for him a very large audience. The book which is the subject of this review (The Affluent Society, Houghton, Mifflin, $5.00) is, strictly speaking, the responsibility of Professor Galbraith alone. But many of the points of view which it expounds are, I know, widely shared by the economic faculty at Harvard; and probably among many students and ex-students of that University. So I shall regard this book, to a considerable degree, as a collective responsibility.

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Colin Clark

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Professor John Kenneth Galbraith, whom. I have known for many years, was once described by one of his friends as being possessed of a “fatal fluency.” His previous writings range from American Capitalism—The Concept of Countervailing Power, which is a real contribution to economic theory, to The Great Crash, 1929, a piece of vulgar journalism which jeers at the misfortune of those who lost their money, without attempting any but the most superficial analysis of the complex economic events of that period.

Professor Galbraith has now written a book on economics in an easy and lively style (albeit marred by a tendency to crude wisecracks) which is securing for him a very large audience. The book which is the subject of this review (The Affluent Society, Houghton, Mifflin, $5.00) is, strictly speaking, the responsibility of Professor Galbraith alone. But many of the points of view which it expounds are, I know, widely shared by the economic faculty at Harvard; and probably among many students and ex-students of that University. So I shall regard this book, to a considerable degree, as a collective responsibility.