The Essential Hirschman
Albert O. Hirschman
I enjoyed Hirschman’s “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty,” and was given this compilation of essays as a gift some years later. It is, as one might expect from a full-career retrospective, somewhat of a mixed bag. I did read it cover to cover, but I liked some essays and slogged through others. It was pretty easy to tell which ones I would like or not by the titles: “Rival Views of Market Society” yes, “A Generalized Linkage Approach with Special Reference to Staples” no. Generally, I was engaged by his more philosophical later works, and less so by his more technical earlier works.
I am definitely interested (ha) in reading his book “The Passions and the Interests,” whose material is given briefer treatment in some of the more interesting essays in this volume.