Kirjahaku

Paris and London have long held a mutual fascination, and never more so than in the period from 1700 to 1914, when each vied to be the world's greatest city. Each city has been the focus of countless books, yet here Jonathan Conlin explores the complex relationship between them for the first time. The reach and influence of both cities was such that the story of their rivalry has global implications. By borrowing, imitating and learning from each other, Paris and London invented the modern metropolis. Tales of Two Cities examines and compares six urban spaces--the street, the cemetery, the apartment, the restaurant, the underworld and the music hall--that defined urban modernity in the nineteenth century. The citizens of Paris and London first created these essential features of the modern cityscape and, in doing so, defined urban living for all of us.

Universally acknowledged as the father of capitalism, the eighteenth-century Scottish thinker Adam Smith (16 June 1723 - 17 July 1790) is best known for developing the concept of the 'invisible hand'. The 'hand' helped to explain how the removal of state regulation could set individuals free to specialise and pursue their own self-interest for the good of all. Unfortunately this idea was later manipulated by advocates of unfettered 'casino capitalism', while Smith's references to self-interest were caricatured as 'greed is good', the mantra of Wall Street's anti-hero Gordon Gekko. Smith's thought, rooted in the holistic science of moral philosophy, was squeezed into the straight-jacket of Economics - a discipline unknown in Smith's day.This introduction to Smith's life and ideas sews the 'invisible hand' back on to the body of Smithian ethics. Smith rooted our trading instinct in human psychology and advanced a system of ethics founded on sympathy.In life as in books such as the renowned Wealth of Nations he drew much from the contrasts afforded by the industrializing Scottish Lowlands and the clan-based pastoralism of the Highlands, as well as between contemporaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume, a close friend. Weaving together Smith's life and ideas, the book highlights the ways in which Smith anticipated recent developments in behavioural economics and virtue ethics as well as debates over inequality. It argues that Smith can equip us to face tomorrow's challenges, and, much more importantly, make us better as well as happier humans.

Kenneth Clark's Civilisation (1969), was a landmark documentary series, pioneering the 'presenter as hero' model. Jonathan Conlin draws on interviews with the original crew and archival research to reveal a series that combined scepticism towards traditional ideas of progress with an inclusive approach to its audience.