Richard Davenport-Hines - Universal Man - The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph List of Illustrations Chapter 1: Altruist Chapter 2: Boy Prodigy Chapter 3: Official Chapter 4: Public Man Chapter 5: Lover Chapter 6: Connoisseur Chapter 7: Envoy Acknowledgements Notes Index Also by Richard Davenport-Hines About the Author About the Publisher

William Collins

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com

First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2015

Copyright © Richard Davenport-Hines 2015

Richard Davenport-Hines asserts the moral right

to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

Cover photograph © Private Collection/Roger-Viollet, Paris/Bridgeman Images

Designed by Kate Gaughran

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007519804

Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007519811

Version: 2015-09-15

For Selina Hastings and Jonno Keates and again to the gentle memory of Cosmo Davenport-Hines

Good work is not done by ‘humble’ men. It is one of the first duties of a professor, for example, in any subject, to exaggerate a little both the importance of his subject and his own importance in it. A man who is always asking ‘Is what I do worthwhile?’ and ‘Am I the right person to do it?’ will always be ineffective himself and a discouragement to others. He must shut his eyes a little, and think a little more of his subject and himself than they deserve.

G. H. Hardy

It is, I think, of the essential nature of economic exposition that it gives, not a complete statement, which, even if it were possible, would be prolix and complicated to the point of obscurity but a sample statement, so to speak, out of all the things which could be said, intended to suggest to the reader the whole bundle of associated ideas, so that, if he catches the bundle, he will not in the least be confused by the technical incompleteness of the mere words which the author has written down … This means, on the one hand, that an economic writer requires from his reader much goodwill and intelligence and a large measure of co-operation; and, on the other hand, that there are a thousand futile, yet verbally legitimate, objections which an objector can raise. In economics you cannot convict your opponent of error – you can only convince him of it.

Maynard Keynes

What do we do? What is the remedy? It would be most inappropriate for me to stand up here and tell you what Keynes would have thought. Goodness knows he would have thought of something much cleverer than I can think of.

Roy Harrod

Cover

Title Page Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph List of Illustrations Chapter 1: Altruist Chapter 2: Boy Prodigy Chapter 3: Official Chapter 4: Public Man Chapter 5: Lover Chapter 6: Connoisseur Chapter 7: Envoy Acknowledgements Notes Index Also by Richard Davenport-Hines About the Author About the Publisher

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph List of Illustrations Chapter 1: Altruist Chapter 2: Boy Prodigy Chapter 3: Official Chapter 4: Public Man Chapter 5: Lover Chapter 6: Connoisseur Chapter 7: Envoy Acknowledgements Notes Index Also by Richard Davenport-Hines About the Author About the Publisher William Collins An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2015 Copyright © Richard Davenport-Hines 2015 Richard Davenport-Hines asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Cover photograph © Private Collection/Roger-Viollet, Paris/Bridgeman Images Designed by Kate Gaughran All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780007519804 Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007519811 Version: 2015-09-15

Dedication Dedication Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph List of Illustrations Chapter 1: Altruist Chapter 2: Boy Prodigy Chapter 3: Official Chapter 4: Public Man Chapter 5: Lover Chapter 6: Connoisseur Chapter 7: Envoy Acknowledgements Notes Index Also by Richard Davenport-Hines About the Author About the Publisher For Selina Hastings and Jonno Keates and again to the gentle memory of Cosmo Davenport-Hines

Epigraph Epigraph Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph List of Illustrations Chapter 1: Altruist Chapter 2: Boy Prodigy Chapter 3: Official Chapter 4: Public Man Chapter 5: Lover Chapter 6: Connoisseur Chapter 7: Envoy Acknowledgements Notes Index Also by Richard Davenport-Hines About the Author About the Publisher Good work is not done by ‘humble’ men. It is one of the first duties of a professor, for example, in any subject, to exaggerate a little both the importance of his subject and his own importance in it. A man who is always asking ‘Is what I do worthwhile?’ and ‘Am I the right person to do it?’ will always be ineffective himself and a discouragement to others. He must shut his eyes a little, and think a little more of his subject and himself than they deserve. G. H. Hardy It is, I think, of the essential nature of economic exposition that it gives, not a complete statement, which, even if it were possible, would be prolix and complicated to the point of obscurity but a sample statement, so to speak, out of all the things which could be said, intended to suggest to the reader the whole bundle of associated ideas, so that, if he catches the bundle, he will not in the least be confused by the technical incompleteness of the mere words which the author has written down … This means, on the one hand, that an economic writer requires from his reader much goodwill and intelligence and a large measure of co-operation; and, on the other hand, that there are a thousand futile, yet verbally legitimate, objections which an objector can raise. In economics you cannot convict your opponent of error – you can only convince him of it. Maynard Keynes What do we do? What is the remedy? It would be most inappropriate for me to stand up here and tell you what Keynes would have thought. Goodness knows he would have thought of something much cleverer than I can think of. Roy Harrod