John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman

John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman. Robert Skidelsky. Macmillan. [pounds sterling]30.00. xxxi + 1021 pages. ISBN 0-333-90312-9. The author's massive, three-volume biography of Keynes was published between 1983 and 2000 and this abridgement is made up of 60 per cent of the original.

In addition to reducing and condensing the text, Lord Skidelsky has also taken the opportunity to re-write and to correct so that 'to some extent' this is a 'new book, which stands on its own, and can be read for the first time as a unity'. The author has no doubt that Keynes was a great man and that history has a place for such: 'Individuals' he writes, 'do make a difference; Keynes made a difference'. Looking back on Keynes' life he sees that certain themes ran throughout his career to give his work 'an underlying unity'. His insistence on 'the pervasiveness of uncertainty', his vision of economics as 'sticky masses' rather than 'fluids', his insistence that there is a moral aspect to economics and his view that governments have a duty 'to keep economic life up to the mark' as far as they can: these dominate his work and mark his influence on history. Keynes' was a greatness 'that transcended economics'. The author succeeds in giving readers the fullest picture possible of Keynes as well in one volume as he did in three, perhaps even more so. (P.J.W.)

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