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Worldly Philosopher: the Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman Free FREE WORLDLY PHILOSOPHER: THE ODYSSEY OF ALBERT O. HIRSCHMAN PDF Jeremy Adelman | 760 pages | 11 Dec 2013 | Princeton University Press | 9780691155678 | English | New Jersey, United States Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman | Foreign Affairs Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Worldly Philosopher by Jeremy Adelman. Hirschman by Jeremy Adelman. Hirschman, one of the twentieth century's most original and provocative thinkers. In this gripping biography, Jeremy Adelman tells the story of a man shaped by modern horrors and hopes, a worldly intellectual who fought for and wrote in defense of the values of tolerance and change. Born in Berlin inHirschman grew up amid the promise and turmoil of the Weimar era, but fled Germany when the Nazis seized power in Amid hardship and personal tragedy, he volunteered to fight against the fascists in Spain and helped many of Europe's leading artists and intellectuals escape to America after France fell to Hitler. He was an influential adviser to governments in the United States, Latin America, and Europe, as well as major foundations and the World Bank. Along the way, he wrote some of the most innovative and important books in economics, the social sciences, and the history of ideas. Throughout, he remained committed to his belief that reform is possible, even in the darkest of times. This is the first major account of Hirschman's remarkable life, and a tale of the twentieth century as seen through the story of an astute and passionate observer. Adelman's riveting narrative traces how Hirschman's personal experiences shaped his unique intellectual perspective, Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman how his enduring legacy is one of hope, open-mindedness, and practical idealism. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Albert O. Joseph J. Spengler Prize Other Editions 5. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Worldly Philosopherplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Jun 24, Jan Rice marked it as to- read Shelves: economicskeep-a-suitcase-packedhistorybiography-memoir. View all 5 comments. May 10, Laurent Franckx rated it really liked it. But I am jumping ahead. Hirschman's life belies the idea that prominent thinkers are usually dreadful or uninteresting human beings. He was born in a family of assimilated German Jews during the first World War. His father, a surgeon, died in the year Hitler came to power, and the teenage Hirschman choose exile in France. It is in this period that some of his fundamental attitudes were developed. Whenever you think we are living difficult times, try to imagine what it must have been like to live in the s, without knowing how it would end especially as German Jew. On top of that, take it from the perspective of someone like Hirschman, who was perspicacious enough to understand that doctrinaire Marxism did not offer an attractive alternative to Nazism, but who had also seen German democracy collapse, almost without a fight. What was left for a politically conscious young person in those times? Although he was himself firmly left of centre, and knew quite a bit of Marxists personally, he strongly resisted "big ideas" which he associated with the "claim to Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman cognition of the world" or attempts "to explain multicausal social processes from a single principle". The alternative was "the attempt to come to an understanding of reality in portions, admitting that the angle may be subjective". His life was indeed that a determined anti-Hamlet. He interrupted his studies to fight on the Republican side during the Spanish civil war, and then went on to gain a PhD in economics at the University of Trieste. When the Second World War broke out, he joined the French army, but without seeing action. After the ignominious defeat inHirschman participated in the escape route Varian Fry set up for European Jews. This is badassery of the highest level, even when you don't take into account that Hirschman was himself in very great danger. Economics is slightly less exciting nowadays. Hirschman eventually escaped himself to the US, took a position at Berkeley and got married to Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman Russian exile. When the US joined the war at last, Hirschman volunteered to serve. After being turned down several times, he finally was accepted to work as a translator in the Italy campaign and would eventually serve during the trial of the first German general to be executed for war crimes. After the war, Hirschman played an important role in the setup of the Marshall plan, but soon realized his career in the US was coming to a dead end: as a European exile with Marxist acquaintances and who had served in other conflicts, he was considered suspect in the days of McCarty. He therefore moved to Colombia, where he served as an economic expert in the first World Bank projects outside Europe. The field experience he gained there was crucial in the development of his own thinking about development theory, which culminated in "The Strategy of Economic Development. In a changed political climate, he eventually moved back to the US, to take up academic appointments at Yale, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton etc. In the mid s, Hirschman was called upon to undertake an ex post evaluation of World Bank projects. This involved field work in Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman continents. Not surprisingly with 5 decades of additional hindsight, most projects were considered failures by Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman engineers on the ground interviewed by Hirschman. What is interesting, is that Hirschman often came to a more nuanced conclusion. For instance, sometimes, projects had failed according to their own objectives, but only because they had inspired local people to set up competing projects obviously reducing the benefits of the initial project. Also, Hirschman found that some projects involved unanticipated side benefits. Over the years, Hirschman's work increasingly moved away from mainstream economics, and sought a dialogue with the other social sciences. The link with his own life story is obvious although it wasn't to him until someone pointed it out ; he had chosen exit from Nazi Germany and McCarthyist America, while others had chosen to stay and to oppose not very successfully in the case of Germany of course. However, the source of inspiration was his field work in Nigeria, where he observed that the inefficient railway company preferred customers to 'exit' and transport goods by trucks rather than using their 'voice' and complain about poor service. Later work discussed the intellectual and philosophical foundations of capitalism; which, following Montesquieu, he saw as a way to canalize the pursuit of "passions" into the pursuit of "interests". Throughout his later life stages, he remained actively involved in the world of economic development, and looked with increasing concern at the disappointments of the s and became a fierce critic of the Reagan administration in the s. Happily, he lived to see his old friend Cardoso become president of Brazil. Ina prescient Albert Hirschman worried about the "systematic lack of communication between groups of citizens, such as liberals and conservatives". According to his biographer, he believed that 'loosening the encased certainties That is why Hirschman chose to write a chapter about progressive intransigencies. This allowed him to stand above extremes to defend the space of reform as also a disposition about forms of arguing. Intransigents of all stripes only served a dialogue of the deaf" Hirschman died ina few months after his wife. This fascinating biography is indeed the story of an odyssey, not only in the literal sense, but also intellectually. It is a story of a man of extraordinary courage and convictions, who despite all the horrors and disappointments he went through, never gave up his quest to find ways to improve other people's lives, always giving priority to pragmatic improvement than to dogmatic "grand ideas" that in practice have ended with mass murder and famine. He is an example and inspiration. Feb 13, Ajj rated it liked it. Adelman does a good job with what at times can be quite a dry topic. Unfortunately it was not quite good enough to get me Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman finish the last quarter of Albert Hirschman's life. I found Hirschman's early life in Weimar Germany and then in the 2nd World War to Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman very compelling. Later when he forges a middle ground of political economy it is still interesting but my attraction started to flag. Finally I was just pushing to get the pages read and the book done, which is a sad state of affairs. I can Adelman does a good job with what at times can be quite a dry topic. I cannot tell if it is my lack a detailed understanding of political economy or my small knowledge of the political and economic forces at play in the life of a professional academic but I know I did not bring all that was needed to enjoy this book. It would have made the book more accessible to me if Adelman had used some of his many pages to explore the questions at play more fundamentally.
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