Thorstein Veblen: Victorian Firebrand: Victorian Firebrand

During his thirty-year career early in this century, economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen tweaked the sensibilities of his time with unrelenting criticism of American business and culture. He also attacked other sacred American institutions: religion, sports and games, the traditional views of the role of women, the class system, the credit system, and certain aspects of academic life. His ideas on society, however, were often dismissed because of his reputation as an eccentric and a womanizer. In this fascinating new biography, the Jorgensen's present Veblen as a sensitive, reserved, brilliant, passionate, gentlemanly, and sometimes foolishly chivalric man. They culled material primarily from letters written by Veblen, his relatives and colleagues, including most of the intellectual luminaries of the first quarter of this century whose lives intersected with that of Veblen. In the words of Arthur Vidich of the New School for Social Research, "This is a biography of Veblen that not only presents a balanced reconstruction of his life, but also corrects a great deal of mythology about Veblen and his works".