Member Login
Home
Join the BA
Why Be A Member?
About Us
FAQs
Join the BA
Membership Subscriptions
Memorandum & Articles
Who can join the BA
BA Advisory Council Members
Bookselling Ireland
Aspiring and New Booksellers
Thinking of Opening a Bookshop?
Introduction to Bookselling Course
Resources for Aspiring and New Booksellers
Starting & Running a Bookshop
Bookshop Search
Member Services
Key Services
Batch and BatchLine
National Book Tokens
Campaigns
Christmas Books
Summer Books
Saving Time and Money
BookBrunch
Bookshop.org
Booktime magazine
BA Music Store
Cotton, Carrier and Paper Bags
Credit and Debit Card Rates
Display Materials
Gift Wrap UK
Insurance
Netgalley
Nielsen BookData
Parcel Rates
SiteWizard Web Design
The Bookseller
Business Support and Resources
BA Learning
BAseline
Booksellers Network
Bookselling Essentials
Bookshop Swaps
Business Support Helpline
Creating Inclusive Bookshops
Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (ENEI)
FriddIT - Technical Support for Bookshops
GDPR and Cyber Security Tool Kit
Independent Booksellers Forum
Practical Guides
Retail Directory Search
Retail Trust Wellbeing Services
Resources for Second Hand Booksellers
Social Media for Bookshops
Specialist Booksellers
Unwin Charitable Trust Mentoring Programme
Campaigns
Bookshop Day and Books Are My Bag Readers Awards
Indie Book of the Month
Independent Bookshop Week
Irish Book Week
World Book Day
BA Events
Industry Info
Industry Info
Annual Reports
BA Policy Documents & Statements
Booksellers as Placemakers
Commitment to Professional Behaviour
Creating Inclusive Bookshops
Find Your Local Bookshop
Getting your book stocked in a high street bookshop
Green Bookselling
Industry Reports
Latest News
Useful Links
Events & Awards
BA Events
Costa Book Awards
Dates For Your Diary
London Book Fair
British Book Awards
Parliamentary Book Awards
Embargoed Titles
Embargoed Title Listing
Submit Embargoed Title
Code of Practice
Key Points for Publishers
FAQs
Booksellers & Intermediaries List
Publishers List
Subscribe
Member Shop
Search for:
SEARCH
Academic Book Week: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money named the book that shaped Modern Britain
25/01/2017
John Maynard Keynes’
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
has been voted as the academic book which has had the greatest impact on modern Britain, announced today as part of Academic Book Week (23-28 January 2017).
Chosen from a list of ‘the 20 academic books that shaped modern Britain’*, curated by leading British academics,
The General Theory
came out top, with 15 per cent of the public vote. In second place was
The Invention of Tradition
, edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, with E.P Thompson’s
The Making of the English Working Class
coming in third.
The top five academic books that shaped modern Britain, as voted for by the public, are:
1.
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
(1936) by John Maynard Keynes
2.
The Invention of Tradition
(1983) edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger
3.
The Making of the English Working Class
(1963) by E.P. Thompson
4.
Ways of Seeing
(1972) by John Berger
5.
Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain
(1984) by Peter Fryer
What Made The General Theory a Winner?
Upon including Keynes among its Most Important People of the Century, Time magazine wrote: "his radical idea that governments should spend money they don't have may have saved capitalism."
The father of modern macroeconomics, Keynes’
The General Theory
(1936) continues to shape Britain’s economic policy today. It formed the basis of ‘Keynesian economics’ – a school of thought which has largely served as the standard economic model in the UK since the Great Depression, and played a key role following the 2007-8 financial crisis. It posits that during recessions economic output is strongly influenced by aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) in the short term, and advocates state intervention in the economy to moderate ‘boom and bust’ cycles.
“Even a year ago it would have seemed that, while Keynes had so significantly helped shape Britain between 1945 and 1979, thereafter the cause of neoliberalism had triumphed. Certainly from Thatcher and Cameron no Conservative leader that I remember uttered the words ‘industrial policy’. Yet here we are with a newly-minted industrial strategy from the PM which bears distinctly Keynesian hallmarks and in desperate need of just such an economic road map as The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.” -
Alan Staton, Head of Marketing & Communications, Booksellers Association, and member of the Academic Book Week committee
20 Academic Books that Shaped Modern Britain
The full list of 20 academic books that shaped modern Britain highlights books that have changed academic and popular thinking across art, science, politics, gender, cultural identity and law, and which continue to shape Britain today.
·
A Brief History of Time
(1968) by Stephen Hawking
·
Revolt on the Right: Explaining Support for the Radical Right in Britain
(2013) by Matthew J Goodwin and Robert Ford
·
Ways of Seeing
(1972) by John Berger
·
Gender Trouble
(1990) by Judith Butler
·
The Selfish Gene
(1976) by Richard Dawkins
·
Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution
(1885) by A.V. Dicey
·
Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain
(1984) by Peter Fryer
·
The Double Helix
(1968) by James Watson
·
The Invention of Tradition
(1983) edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger
·
The Making of the English Working Class
(1963) by E.P. Thompson
·
Purity and Danger
(1966) by Mary Douglas
·
The Uses of Literacy
(1957) by Richard Hoggart
·
Poverty in the United Kingdom
(1979) by Peter Townsend
·
Orientalism
(1978) by Edward Said
·
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
(1936) by John Maynard Keynes
·
The Female Eunuch
(1970) by Germaine Greer
·
Modern Ireland 1600-1972
(1990) by R.F. Foster
·
The English and their History
(2014) by Robert Tombs
·
The Road to Serfdom
(1994) by Friedrich Hayek
·
The Scottish Nation
(1999) by Tom Devine
Back to Latest News