John kenneth autobiography

One thing that quickly becomes evident on reading A Life in Our Times is that John Kenneth Galbraith is enormously impressed with the accomplishments of John Kenneth Galbraith.

And you can’t really fault him for it. I’ve met plenty of people who are far more impressed with themselves than they have any right to be. Galbraith lived to be 97 years old. By the time he was one third of the way through his long life, he had already been a professor at Harvard and served as an economic adviser to Franklin Roosevelt during the worst economic crisis in history. He went on to serve in the Truman, Kennedy and Johnson administrations, by turns as an economist, speechwriter and diplomat. He published dozens of influential books and received dozens of honorary degrees from educational institutions around the world. He was also 6 foot 9, which shouldn’t count as an accomplishment, but is, nevertheless, quite impressive.

Galbraith’s economic ideas did not shake the foundations of the discipline and it’s unlikely he’ll ever have as much influence among economists as say, John Maynard Keynes or Milton Friedman, just to name two (specifically, two who would fight with one another if you put them in the same room, which I would pay to watch). His real genius was in conveying economic ideas, often very complex ones, in plain language that people without years of academic study could understand. He was, in my opinion, a great economist, but an even greater writer.

His memoirs were a delight to read. You might learn a tiny bit about economics. If you keep a piece of paper handy and write down some of the more obscure words he uses (and almost never just to show off . . . it always turns out to be the perfect word, not just one he pulled out to let everyone know that he’s smarter than we are, which he is), you’ll increase your vocabulary. You’ll definitely get some insight into the nature of national and international politics, and a new p

This delightful little book written by J.K. Galbraith -- author, economist, and Canadian ambassador to the U.S. during the Kennedy administration -- is a memoir of his time growing up among the Scots of southern Ontario (or "Scotch", as they refer to themselves, as per the title). It's less of an account of the author’s own personal experiences as a boy and more a description of the rural community where he grew up in the early decades of the 20th century.

The book covers a different aspect of the Scotch society in each chapter: the natural history and political history of the region, a general description of the Scotch, their economy, their farming practices, their social structures, their politics, their religion, their approach to education, and the contrasts between rural and town life. Some chapters appealed more than others. In particular, I liked the first chapter, "An Uninteresting Country"; the chapter on the town, "The Urban Life"; and the final chapter, "L'Envoi".

I grew up in the American midwest, where many of the towns have northern-European roots (German, Dutch, Norwegian, etc). It was interesting to read about a community with distinct anglo/celtic roots. In some ways similar to the regions I'm familiar with, but with its own distinct character. It's a mere 200 miles from my home town, but as described seems like a different world. The references to Detroit in particular tickle me. As Galbraith tells it, the Scotch considered it to be on par with the greatest cities in the world, primarily because of the jobs provided during the boom years of the American auto industry. Quite a different perspective than what we see now in the 21st century.

Galbraith's style is somewhat academic, but still very readable. Anyone who is interested in regional history of Canada, the American midwest, or the Great Lakes region, should consider this book. At only 136 pages, its worth the short time it takes to read.

[I picked up my edi