Learning from Professor Mark Perlman was one of the best things happened to me when I was still a student. Since Professor Perlman had stopped lecturing on this topic ( in fact I was among those who attended his last series of lectures ), this book, along with an earlier publication in 1998, serves as an alternative to his interesting and thought provoking lectures filled with first-hand information about economics and economists. The course was an eye-opener for me and I highly recommend this book which covers the materials Professor Perlman put together for us.

Anyone who took Dr. Mark Perlman's courses on the history of economic thoughts will admires why he knows so much about the development of economics. His lecture notes are just like pieces of maps that lead his students into the Treasure Island of Knowledge. I am very happy to know that Mark and Dr. McCann have published their books. I would like to share my experiences with everyone who read the books.

The legendary History of Economic Analysis is without a doubt one of the greatest books of economic history ever written, but one should examine what kind of reading they're looking for before he or she embarks on this thousand page text. Schumpeter's unfinished history is divided into sections by ideology and time-period which is particularly useful but once you penetrate the well-organized table of contents, the writing becomes arcane and complex.

For a reader well-grounded in economic theory and history, I am sure that this is a bible; but for a curious reader interested in the history of economics (in a more political as opposed to theoretical perspective) this book may not be right. Highly footnoted and not very smooth writing, as well as obscure references to economists and theories results in a history that is very demanding of the reader. If you are looking for an economic history text that reads like From Dawn to Decadence you may be seriously disappointed, as I had been, but if you are a serious student of economics and are willing to spend the time to deliberate over Schumpeter's words then History of Economic Analysis is right for you.

After the considerable success of his then only in germanpublished Little Sketch of Doctrines and Methods, and while he wasteaching at Harvard, Schumpeter started working on a book wich would cover the ground of Little Sketch an beyond. What began just as leisure would become THE masterpiece in History of Economic Thought. Schumpeter spent ten years in this colossal effort and unfortunately did not finish it before his death. Nevertheless, nowhere else you will find a book more powerful and more profound on this theme. By History of Economic Analysis Schumpeter means the history of efforts made in the pursuit of comprehending economic phenomena, from Antiquity to present; not a book on history of ideologies. Schumpeter places the authors in their times and contexts, and tries to understand how they proceeded in analysing economic reality. A must for anyone interested in economic theory, history and philosophy.