Universal Man: The Lives of John Maynard Keynes

Davenport-Hines (An English Affair; Proust at the Majestic) presents John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) as a many-sided man besides being the most influential economist of the past 100 years. The author eschews technical discussion of economic theories in favor of rounding out Keynes as a whole in seven topical chapters: altruist, boy prodigy, official, public man, lover, connoisseur, envoy. He details Keynes's formative years at Eton College and Cambridge University; early government service; criticism of the Versailles peace treaty; seminal 1936 General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money; involvement in World War II; and his role in shaping the postwar world. The author shows how Keynes developed his persuasive powers through dinners and meetings and how he could pragmatically switch course in response to changing conditions. He fully explores Keynes's years of promiscuous homosexuality, his promotion of the arts, and his membership in the Cambridge Apostles and the Bloomsbury Group.