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Also by P.J. O'Rourke:

The Baby Boom, January 2014
Hardcover / e-Book
Holidays In Heck, November 2011
Hardcover / e-Book
Don't Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards, September 2010
Hardcover
Driving Like Crazy, June 2009
Hardcover
On The Wealth of Nations, December 2006
Hardcover

ON THE WEALTH OF NATIONS
By: P.J. O'Rourke

(Books That Changed the World)

Atlantic Monthly Press
December 2006
On Sale: December 4, 2006
256 pages
ISBN: 0871139499
EAN: 9780871139498
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction

As one of the first titles in Atlantic Monthly Press’ “Books That Changed the World” series, America’s most provocative satirist, P. J. O’Rourke, reads Adam Smith’s revolutionary The Wealth of Nations so you don’t have to.

Recognized almost instantly on its publication in 1776 as the fundamental work of economics, The Wealth of Nations was also recognized as really long: the original edition totaled over nine hundred pages in two volumes—including the blockbuster sixty-seven-page “digression concerning the variations in the value of silver during the course of the last four centuries,” which, “to those uninterested in the historiography of currency supply, is like reading Modern Maturity in Urdu.”

Although daunting, Smith’s tome is still essential to understanding such current hot-topics as outsourcing, trade imbalances, and Angelina Jolie.

In this hilarious, approachable, and insightful examination of Smith and his groundbreaking work, P. J. puts his trademark wit to good use, and shows us why Smith is still relevant, why what seems obvious now was once revolutionary, and why the pursuit of self-interest is so important.

Media Buzz

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - February 21, 2007
Tavis Smiley - February 5, 2007
Marketplace - PRI - January 16, 2007
Talk of the Nation - January 8, 2007