THE ECONOMIC MIND IN AMERICAN CIVILIZATION (Vol. III)

In 1945 the first two volumes of this definitive work on our national history viewed through the pattern of economic thought appeared. Now, with Vol. III, Prof. Dorfman makes one feel the continuity throughout our history of such problems as wages, labor organizations, protective tariff, foreign as opposed to domestic commerce, and so on. The new volume approaches our own time -- 1865 through World War I, and traces the growth of industrial America, notes the integral factors in the development of our culture, and presents the period in which the foundations were laid of our economic philosophy, the entry into politics of elements of economic and social reform. Trade unionism, monopolies, racial problems (precipitated by emancipation), tenant farming -- these conditions aggravated the conflicts. Some reassessment of values took place -- but the sense of a continuing thread is there. Again, perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the focus on personalities, -- men who contributed to our economic thinking, Henry George, John Bates Clark, Veblen, Wesley Mitchell, Taussig, Seligman and many others. One gets something of the shifting pattern -- but the emphasis is defined by the title -- ""the economic mind"".