Issue No.
31
January 2010
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| Welcome to January’s review of books |
 Tim Black
Throughout history, human societies have dreamt of creating plenty, from the toiling Israelites’ vision of ‘a land of milk and honey’ to the Socialist Sylvia Pankhurst’s call for a ‘great production that will supply more than all the people can consume’. Mankind has aimed for abundance, both in order to satisfy people’s needs and to give us more free, non-drudgery-related time in which to think, experiment, or relax. Yet today, numerous underhand arguments are put forward to undermine the idea of economic growth: it’s bad for the environment, we’re told, or it will leave us unhappy. In this month’s spiked review of books, Daniel Ben-Ami, author of the forthcoming Ferraris for All: In Defence of Economic Progress, kicks off his campaign to defend growth as a good – and essential – thing. We also have Sean Collins on the expletive-laden gossip from the 2008 US presidential race, Tim Black on the disappearance of civil liberty, Rob Lyons on the history of food and humanity, Thomas McGlaughin Jr on JD Salinger, and much more. Enjoy! [Cover illustration by Jan Bowman.] |
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