Henry Farrell reviews my new book

He is very kind.  Why don’t I excerpt the part that praises me most?:

There are two, quite different libertarian styles of writing about culture that I enjoy.  One is the pop-culture variety, which uses libertarian precepts as the framework for a certain kind of flip, contrarian analysis.  This can be quite entertaining, but it usually doesn’t bear up well to close examination.  Libertarian nostrums all too frequently substitute for actual thought (granted, much leftist opinionating on culture has similar problems).  The second style is that of Tyler Cowen.  Cowen writes in an entertaining and straightforward manner.  He’s enthusiastic and knowledgeable about both high and low culture.  But the fun of his arguments is that they’re serious, interesting, and properly thought through.  If they’re hard to fit into conventional frameworks of debate, they aren’t self-consciously contrarian either.  Instead, they lead in their own directions, and Cowen isn’t afraid to follow them, even if they lead to unexpected destinations.

If you haven’t already, you can buy the Good and Plenty: The Creative Successes of American Arts Funding here.

Comments

Comments for this post are closed