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While this book is fairly mainstream in its orientation, it is very readable and thorough, covering the struggle of working people through the late 1800s to the early 1990s.
I consider this book a good starting point for people interested in working people's history. What makes it especially rich is the narrative flow and personal stories that appear throughout it, and the sidebars with songs and other miscellaneous information. This is the way a history book should be written.
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However, what seperates this book from other books on the subject of economics, is its philosophical tint. In one of the most interesting chapters the author explains the "tyranny of discounting" and goes on to show that this may not always be a rational and equitable process for the valuation of future hapiness, or suffering. Indeed there are many forms of efficiency but these may not always be equitable. The implications being that current reduction of capital for future generations is not just.
Overall, although the book is over a decade old, it is still both interesting and relevent for anyone that cares about the future state of the world.
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Wallace begins with a biographical narrative of both Cope and Marsh, from their family origins and early interest in science, to their maturation as paleontologists and their initial encounters with one another, and on to their growing competition with one another and eventual implacable conflicts and feud. Wallace shows how this really was not primarily a scientific controversy, but a conflict between two very different personalities. Both men were exceedingly gifted, both immensely competitive, and both were extremely neurotic. Of the two, Cope emerges as the more sympathetic, if only because he strikes the reader as the more likable of the two. Marsh is less sympathetic because of the ruthless way he attempts to cut Cope off from all governmental support for his research, and the manner in which he attempts to keep Cope, who was probably the more gifted paleontologist, on the scientific periphery. In fact, Marsh comes across as a completely unlikable person; not even his closest acquaintances seem to have liked him. If Cope emerges as more congenial, he also comes across as more manic, more paranoid, and obsessed.
In the end, one is left with a feeling of disgust at both Marsh (especially Marsh) and Cope's massive stupidity in the entire conflict. Although they had some scientific disagreements, most of their antagonism was generated by who was able to get the most fossils, and the efforts of Marsh to cut Cope completely out of government funding. One is left with a sense of regret that the two great founders of American paleontology were unable to coordinate their efforts and be collaborators instead of competitors.
Anyone enjoying this book might also enjoy Deborah Cadbury's TERRIBLE LIZARD, which tells the story of the birth of paleontology in England at the beginning of the 19th century, a few decades before Cope and Marsh. Sadly, that book also tells the story of a needless feud, with Gideon Mantell taking the Cope role and Richard Owen the Marsh one. The two books make great companion volumes, and jointly make a magnificent introduction to 19th century paleontology.
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The text is thorough in its task, recounting the movements of each school of thought and integrating a knowledge of the social context in which they evolved, recognizing that no such movement can develop as an independent entity, avoiding the philosophical climate of the times. The book "discuss[es] the contributions of the pivotal figures who shaped the field, noting that their work was influenced by the times in which they flourished and by the context of their own life experiences" (Preface).
The text also discusses "each school of thought in terms of its connection to the scientific ideas and discoveries that precede and follow it. Each school evolved from or revolted against the existing order and in its turn inspired viewpoints that challenged, opposed, and eventually replaced it. With the hindsight of history, we can trace the pattern and the continuity of development of modern psychology" (Preface).
The text is comprehensive, thorough, and illustrative in its presentation of modern psychology's evolutionary pathway, an excellent choice for undergraduate course study in the field.
The seventh edition was published in 2000.
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Physicists interested in the mathematical aspects of quantum field/string theory would do well to read these volumes as well.
Deserving, in my opinion, more than 5 stars -- many more!!