While it has been pointed to time and again by governments and pundits promoting laissez-faire economics,
The Wealth of Nations
actually shows that Adam Smith viewed capitalism with a deep suspicion, and tempered his celebration of a self-regulating market with a darker vision of the dehumanizing potential of a profit-oriented society. Smith did not write an economics textbook, but rather a panoramic narrative about the struggle for individual liberty and general prosperity in history. This edition includes generous selections from all five books of
. It also provides full notes and a commentary that places Smith's work within a rich interdisciplinary context.
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