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Books by Robert L. Heilbroner

Author of more than 20 books, Robert Heilbroner (1919–2015) was a respected American historian of economic thought. An outspoken socialist for most of his career – and a highly unconventional thinker in a rather conservative discipline – Heilbroner was never recognized as a prominent economist by his peers, but his historical studies are still widely read and recommended. “The Worldly Philosophers,” for example, is arguably the second bestselling economics text of the 20th century, behind only Paul Samuelson’s university textbook, “Economics.”

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The Worldly Philosophers

Robert L. Heilbroner

An introduction to “the lives, times and ideas” of several great economic thinkers – from Adam Smith to John Maynard Keynes, from David Ricardo to Karl Marx – “The Worldly Philosophers” by Robert Heilbroner examines, with authority and dispassion, the history of economic thought in a comprehensive and comprehensible manner. A living classic, the book has sold over four million copies ever since its first publication in 1953.

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