The conventional received opinion of Adam Smith as an isolated figure, the founder of ' modern' economics, is thoroughly mistaken and misleading. This is the central premise of this book, first published in 1988, in which the author argues that by placing Smith' s work in its historical context, we discover profound continuities between Smith' s work and that of his predecessors, and his contemporaries. The effect is to re-orientate our perception of Smith and his achievement. No longer the single-handed champion of free markets ...