Wayne A. Leighton and Edward J. Lopez: Madmen, intellectuals, and academic scribblers: the economic engine of political change Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013. ⅹⅳ + 209 pages. USD 29.95 (cloth)

摘要

Leighton and L6pez's book, Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers, is a motivated reading into the role political entrepreneurs play in creating policy. The book discusses three distinct levels of change: origination, establishment, and implementation of new ideas. The result of their efforts is an expansive survey edited to less than 200 pages of discussion. What is surprising, then, is that the authors cover the material and maintain a conversational tone, comfortable even for a novice historian of thought. The book takes the reader through selected episodes that are instrumental in improving the general economic welfare of society. The main focus of the book, however, is to structure insight into the pattern of ideological change.