Adam Smith's America - by Glory M Liu

About the Book

"Originally published in 1776, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations was lauded by America's founders as a landmark work of Enlightenment thinking about national wealth, statecraft, and moral virtue. Today, Smith is one of the most influential icons of economic thought in America. Glory Liu traces how generations of Americans have read, reinterpreted, and weaponized Smith's ideas, revealing how his popular image as a champion of American-style capitalism and free markets is a historical invention. Drawing on a trove of illuminating archival materials, Liu tells the story of how an unassuming Scottish philosopher captured the American imagination and played a leading role in shaping American economic and political ideas. She shows how Smith became known as the father of political economy in the nineteenth century and was firmly associated with free trade, and how, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the Chicago School of Economics transformed him into the preeminent theorist of self-interest and the miracle of free markets. Liu explores how a new generation of political theorists and public intellectuals has sought to recover Smith's original intentions and restore his reputation as a moral philosopher. Charting the enduring fascination that this humble philosopher from Scotland has held for American readers over more than two centuries, Adam Smith's America shows how Smith continues to be a vehicle for articulating perennial moral and political anxieties about modern capitalism."--

Book Synopsis

The unlikely story of how Americans canonized Adam Smith as the patron saint of free markets

Originally published in 1776, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations was lauded by America's founders as a landmark work of Enlightenment thinking about national wealth, statecraft, and moral virtue. Today, Smith is one of the most influential icons of economic thought in America. Glory Liu traces how generations of Americans have read, reinterpreted, and weaponized Smith's ideas, revealing how his popular image as a champion of American-style capitalism and free markets is a historical invention.

Drawing on a trove of illuminating archival materials, Liu tells the story of how an unassuming Scottish philosopher captured the American imagination and played a leading role in shaping American economic and political ideas. She shows how Smith became known as the father of political economy in the nineteenth century and was firmly associated with free trade, and how, in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the Chicago School of Economics transformed him into the preeminent theorist of self-interest and the miracle of free markets. Liu explores how a new generation of political theorists and public intellectuals has sought to recover Smith's original intentions and restore his reputation as a moral philosopher.

Charting the enduring fascination that this humble philosopher from Scotland has held for American readers over more than two centuries, Adam Smith's America shows how Smith continues to be a vehicle for articulating perennial moral and political anxieties about modern capitalism.

Review Quotes

"Winner of the Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities, American Philosophical Society"

"Adam Smith's America offers a rich and nuanced exploration of how one of the most influential thinkers in economic history has been understood and misunderstood in American political and intellectual discourse. Liu's work serves as a valuable corrective to oversimplified narratives about Smith's legacy, demonstrating how his complex ideas have been selectively interpreted and reinterpreted to serve various ideological ends. By tracing the evolution of Smith's reception in America, Liu not only illuminates the changing nature of American economic and political thought but also invites readers to engage more deeply with Smith's actual writings."---Filippo Gaddo, Society of Professional Economists ​​​​​​​

"Liu succeeds in illustrating how multifaceted interpretations of Smith have been and how important he remains as the prism through which we understand the relationship of the economy, the individual, and the state. Liu thus tells the story of how a Scottish moral philosopher became an icon of American capitalism with style and intellectual vigour."---Zack Rauwald, Tocqueville21

"Winner of the Best Monograph Award, European Society for the History of Economic Thought"

"A detailed and well-researched account of the reception of Adam Smith in America."---Maria Pia Paganelli, History of Economic Thought and Policy

"Outstanding work."---Matteo Santarelli, Journal of Interdisciplinary History of Ideas

"How did Adam Smith become as American as apple pie? Wisely skipping over the 'mesmerizingly mundane' life of the man, about whom we know little, Glory Liu offers a biography of Adam Smith the idea. Traversing three centuries of American thought in fluid prose, Ms. Liu finds traces of Smith in his inspiration of the founding generation, as grist for 19th-century debates over free trade, and as a celebrated apostle of the free market during the Cold War. Synthesizing a wave of recent scholarship on Smith, Ms. Liu elevates his Theory of Moral Sentiments over his canonical Wealth of Nations."---Jennifer Burns, Wall Street Journal (Five Best Biographies of Economists)

"Exemplary. . . . Liu presents Smith's reception history as a unique window into what she calls the nation's 'politics of political economy.' She is right. . . . Liu demonstrates just how malleable ideologically the interpretation of Smith has been over time."---Jonathan Levy, Boston Review

"

[Adam Smith's America] illuminates how the ways that readers approach a text become part of that text's story. . . . A model for doing reception history well.

"---Rebecca Brenner Graham, Slate

"

Lucid and compelling. . . . Adam Smith's America is an impressively researched and deftly executed book.

"---Robin Douglass, Global Intellectual History

"Intriguing. . . . Capacious. . . . Rich."---Kim Phillips-Fein, New Republic

"This is an excellent book."---Branko Milanovic, Global Inequality and More 3.0

"Masterful."---David Bahnsen, Religion & Liberty Online

"Winner of the PROSE Award in Economics, Association of American Publishers"

"

Maybe it's a moonshot to imagine lanyard-festooned Seattleite techies as a revolutionary vanguard, but, whatever your political visions: There's a Smith for that.

"---Adam Willems, The Stranger

"A fascinating tour of American economic theory and debate from the late 18th century to the present. . . . Liu's book is more than an examination of the twists and turns in American economic debate, for it also raises profound questions about economics as a discipline and terrain of debate."---Colin Kidd, New Statesman

"Fascinating."---Greg Olear, PREVAIL

"

The iconic economist has become all things to all people over time, from Friedman-esque libertarian to anti-capitalist crusader. . . . Even if Chicago, the Heritage Foundation, and other right-leaning entities have tried to seize him for their cause, Liu examines the possibility that he may be 'closer to the values of the contemporary left'--thus are the many ambiguities in his work. A bracing study not just of Smith's ideas, but also of how scholars and activists have used (and misused) them.

"-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"[A] provocative analysis of Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith's influence on U.S. politics and business. . . . This is a rewarding reconsideration of an influential thinker."-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

Glory M. Liu is assistant professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, The Nation, and other publications.