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Review
'I was particularly excited by Andrew Gamble's The Spectre at the Feast - both a superb dissection of the economic crisis that broke last year and a profound analysis of the implications for the future. Gamble rates this as a major crisis of capitalism, comparable with those of the 1930s, the late 1970s and early 1980s. As such, it is political as well as economic, and has created an opening for new ideas, new programmes and a new politics. But the choice between these will depend on the outcome of political struggles and on the intellectual daring and tactical skill of the leaders engaged in them. The left has a better chance to escape from the iron cage of market fundamentalism than at any time in the past 30 years - provided it has the courage to seize the opportunity. Gordon Brown and Barack Obama, please note. This book is a must for both men's Christmas stockings' - David Marquand, New Statesman
'Andrew Gamble...makes a convincing and determined effort to peel back the layers of the crisis...[and] skilfully paints a picture of a system, described as capitalist or free market, that is prone to crisis, political argument and rebirth...Gamble is right. It is all about politics, and the wreckage of a failed political system on both sides of the Atlantic shows the depths of the failure.' - John Whitelegg, Times Higher Education
'What I liked most about this book was the accessible way he explained not only the economics of the situation but also the politics behind it.' - The Herald
'A book to bring us down to earth.' - Sunday Business Post
'Timely and accessible, a must read for anyone interested in the competing explanations of the current financial crisis and possible solutions.' - Professor Herman M. Schwartz, University of Virginia, USA
'Andrew Gamble is our most formidable exponent of the classical tradition of political economy…He writes with exemplary clarity in limpid English, enlivened with flashes of dry humour… I have learned more from him than from any other political analyst of our generation…The Spectre at the Feast is Gamble at his best…a book that should be compulsory reading in every finance ministry and central bank…[and] the best starting point for the long road to reconstruction that the left now has to take.' - David Marquand, New Statesman
'A very timely, eloquent and learned introduction to the nature and causes of capitalist crises. It delivers just what students and citizens need to help navigate through these trying economic times.' - Professor Jonathon W. Moses, NTNU, Norway and Visiting Scholar, University of Washington, USA
'A highly readable account of the current global crisis, its likely trajectories and possible consequences, embedded in a brief but informed overview of theories of capitalist crisis. I really like the book and, in particular, the clear way in which it draws out the roots of the crisis in the neo-liberal response to the collapse of Keynesianism in the 1970s.' - Professor Henk Overbeek, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Review
"A very timely, eloquent and learned introduction to the nature and causes of capitalist crises. It delivers just what students and citizens need to help navigate through these trying economic times."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I came to this book as someone who has always hid in the bushes whenever someone mentioned the word economics. Educated in the arts, I kind of hoped I could go through life without ever thinking about inflation or John Maynard Keynes. I would not have read this book had it not been recommended to me.
However having now read it I now feel like a bit of a wise guy.
Gamble begins by spelling out the difference between the liberal capitalism of the nineteenth century, which came to a shuddering halt in 1929, the Keynesian protectionist policies pioneered by the New Deal in the States as introduced by Roosevelt, and neo-liberalism introduced by Thatcher and Reagan and spread to the rest of the world from Britain and America which fundamentally is economics which focuses on money rather than industry, makes an industry out of finance, and is supposed to result in greater mobility of capital and unparalleled facility for growth.
Well as we all know something went wrong. Gamble rehearses the story we probably have all read a little of about how 'sub-prime' mortgages led to finance packages with no solid base which got repackaged and repackaged until no-one knew what they were dealing with and the bubble burst.
He then looks at the different shades of economic theory which might lead us forward. Along the way he explains how neo-liberalism has led to economic globalization because it all adds to the mobility of capital and developing nations have had to sign up or not get aid. He has a very interesting chapter on how the crisis has affected different countries, especially China and questions whether the USA will retain its dominance as arbiter of the world economy.
He ends by looking at different projected solutions from market fundamentalism, protectionism, different regulatory options and anti-capitalism.
As far as it goes it is all very helpful and I feel within quite strict parameters maps out the territory in a comprehensive way which is great for the general reader.
Despite fairly frequent references to political considerations he has not however brought into play, except by inference at times, political theory as such. There is for example no discussion of why different political movements such as communism, fascism or neoconservatism have developed. This would no doubt have greatly mutiplied the book's length.
But for anyone interested in geopolitics, economist or not, this is an excellent primer on the economic front.
However having now read it I now feel like a bit of a wise guy.
Gamble begins by spelling out the difference between the liberal capitalism of the nineteenth century, which came to a shuddering halt in 1929, the Keynesian protectionist policies pioneered by the New Deal in the States as introduced by Roosevelt, and neo-liberalism introduced by Thatcher and Reagan and spread to the rest of the world from Britain and America which fundamentally is economics which focuses on money rather than industry, makes an industry out of finance, and is supposed to result in greater mobility of capital and unparalleled facility for growth.
Well as we all know something went wrong. Gamble rehearses the story we probably have all read a little of about how 'sub-prime' mortgages led to finance packages with no solid base which got repackaged and repackaged until no-one knew what they were dealing with and the bubble burst.
He then looks at the different shades of economic theory which might lead us forward. Along the way he explains how neo-liberalism has led to economic globalization because it all adds to the mobility of capital and developing nations have had to sign up or not get aid. He has a very interesting chapter on how the crisis has affected different countries, especially China and questions whether the USA will retain its dominance as arbiter of the world economy.
He ends by looking at different projected solutions from market fundamentalism, protectionism, different regulatory options and anti-capitalism.
As far as it goes it is all very helpful and I feel within quite strict parameters maps out the territory in a comprehensive way which is great for the general reader.
Despite fairly frequent references to political considerations he has not however brought into play, except by inference at times, political theory as such. There is for example no discussion of why different political movements such as communism, fascism or neoconservatism have developed. This would no doubt have greatly mutiplied the book's length.
But for anyone interested in geopolitics, economist or not, this is an excellent primer on the economic front.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book is easy to read and provides an excellent summary of different viewpoints in the debate about what caused the recession. However, the lack of a clear viewpoint makes it difficult to form your own opinion unless you already have one. It's a bit like circling round in a helicopter, you end up feeling a bit dizzy.
At the end, just when you are looking for some sort of conclusion, the book sort of peters out. It would have been better if Andrew had told us what he thought having read all of the research material. The reader could then agree or disagree.
Of course we could do some more reading for ourselves or we might already have a world view which makes us more inclined to side with one of the viewpoints he so clearly articulates throughout the book.
Then again, maybe that was the intention. Maybe Andrew is trying to encourage his students to do more research.
Overall, worth reading. I skipped a few bits but got a lot out of it.
At the end, just when you are looking for some sort of conclusion, the book sort of peters out. It would have been better if Andrew had told us what he thought having read all of the research material. The reader could then agree or disagree.
Of course we could do some more reading for ourselves or we might already have a world view which makes us more inclined to side with one of the viewpoints he so clearly articulates throughout the book.
Then again, maybe that was the intention. Maybe Andrew is trying to encourage his students to do more research.
Overall, worth reading. I skipped a few bits but got a lot out of it.
8 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Andrew Gamble is Professor of Politics at Cambridge University. In Chapter 1 he explains how 2007's credit crunch turned into 2008's financial crash and then into 2009's global recession. In Chapter 2 he examines capitalism's crises, comparing 2007-9 to the 1930s and the 1970s and exploring various theories of crisis. Chapter 3 studies globalisation and neo-liberalism, Chapter 4 the politics of the recession and Chapter 5 the consequences for the global economy and relations between states. In Chapter 6 he asks, what is to be done?
Chapter 1 is much the best, describing the chaos of casino capitalism, which brought us debts worth 300% of our GDP. He points out that the mistake the governments made was to put banks in charge of housing low-income families.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book is very conventional and academic in the worst sense. He ends by opposing national protectionism and waffles about building `a new economy', without any real plans.
He ignores the kind of new thinking that we need to rebuild our country to get out of the current mess. If we are to have a new high-speed rail network, we should be demanding that it be made in Britain, with British-made steel and British-constructed rolling stock. We should demand that the new generation of nuclear power stations be built by British workers using British technology, not by a French firm using east European labour. We should involve unemployed young workers in these projects, alongside skilled workers who can pass on their skills.
We could fund the work by using the state's controlling interest in RBS, Lloyds and Northern Rock to form a new state bank. All banks and firms should be forced to pay their taxes without recourse to offshore tax havens. These could all become demands of the trade unions in those industries, which would be far more useful than any academic disquisition about the `meaning' of crises.
Chapter 1 is much the best, describing the chaos of casino capitalism, which brought us debts worth 300% of our GDP. He points out that the mistake the governments made was to put banks in charge of housing low-income families.
Unfortunately, the rest of the book is very conventional and academic in the worst sense. He ends by opposing national protectionism and waffles about building `a new economy', without any real plans.
He ignores the kind of new thinking that we need to rebuild our country to get out of the current mess. If we are to have a new high-speed rail network, we should be demanding that it be made in Britain, with British-made steel and British-constructed rolling stock. We should demand that the new generation of nuclear power stations be built by British workers using British technology, not by a French firm using east European labour. We should involve unemployed young workers in these projects, alongside skilled workers who can pass on their skills.
We could fund the work by using the state's controlling interest in RBS, Lloyds and Northern Rock to form a new state bank. All banks and firms should be forced to pay their taxes without recourse to offshore tax havens. These could all become demands of the trade unions in those industries, which would be far more useful than any academic disquisition about the `meaning' of crises.
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