an excellent sociobiography

Considering the controversial topic, it is surprising that the author neither fawns over nor sets out to destroy its subject matter. The result is a well researched, rich in scope, fair and balanced intellectual biography of the Austrian School. Its central characters are all the major thinkers of the school, from Menger and Böhm-Bawerk to Hayek, Morgenstern, and Haberler. Impressively, the book brings to life dozens of thinkers, institutes, and societies spread across a century of history and several continents. It manages to cover a lot of ground without losing track of the overall narrative. It is entertaining and educational in equal measure, and full of real world relevance. Although neutral in tone, the book is not entirely without its share of editorializing, especially towards the end. But for the most part the author wisely keeps editorial comments at a minimum and places them in parentheses and epilogues. And to the extent that the normative focus emerges, it is very commendable in its call for a "progressive" rediscovery of the Austrian school against reactionary appropriations and American simplifications. In reminding the reader of the dangers of dogmatism and narrow sectarianism, the book celebrates the pluralistic and cosmopolitan intellectual tradition of fin-de-siècle Vienna as the complex cradle of socioeconomic and scientific innovation.

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