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Mises Economics Blog

Those Garrett Novels

January 25, 2008 3:48 PM by Jeffrey Tucker | Other posts by Jeffrey Tucker | Comments (5)

Regular readers know how nuts I am for the novels of Garet Garrett. I can't even chose among them, they are all so great. To my mind they should be NYT bestsellers. They constitute a major discovery in a hugely important genre: capitalist fiction. I say capitalist but they are not self-consciously so. They are just good stories that put a love of commercial life at the very core of the plot. So they make the reader come to appreciate the great contribution that enterprise makes to civilization.

Anyway, I wanted to test my view that anyone would love these, so personally purchased these books for three people: my mother, a musician friend in New York, and a friend of a friend who is 90 years old and living on the other coast. The idea was to get a cross section.

I'm pleased to report that all three are just crazy for these books. Each finished one and read the next week. My friend in New York had just finished a Steinbeck book and preferred the Garrett! So with this in mind, I recommend them all anew. You will be thrilled.

Comments (5)

  • lester

  • I just started Cinder Buggy. I've read the Driver and Satan's Bushel and I think the latter was my favorite thusfar. I think i mentioned it before, but I was telling my Uncle about the book and he noted that my great grandfather W irving Bullard or something was on the agricultural commitee and was head of the trade commision in Chicago at that time. weird!

  • Published: January 26, 2008 10:10 AM

  • Benighted

  • A crazy question: you've spoiled us all with podcasts and audio/video presentations that have made my dog walks and trips to work amazingly enjoyable. Can you imagine making Garrett's work available in MP3? What level of funding would it take to get a well-spoken Auburn undergrad to read the book aloud?

  • Published: January 26, 2008 10:30 AM

  • jeffrey

  • Interesting! I'll propose it!

  • Published: January 26, 2008 1:03 PM

  • lester

  • If you liked "the Driver" another excellent book set in the same era is Luc Santes "low life", not the accompanying photo book, the book itself. it tells the other side of the story: what it looked like at the bottom of the seedy side of the city. non fiction

  • Published: January 26, 2008 3:58 PM

  • Evan McLaren

  • I am pleased at this little celebration of Garrett's work. Thank you!

  • Published: January 26, 2008 8:09 PM

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