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Fly Swatter : How My Grandfather Made His Way in the World by Nicholas Dawidoff (2002, Hardcover)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group
ISBN-100375400273
ISBN-139780375400278
eBay Product ID (ePID)2141569
Product Key Features
Book TitleFly Swatter : How My Grandfather Made His Way in the World
Number of Pages368 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2002
TopicSocial Scientists & Psychologists, General, Higher
IllustratorYes
GenreEducation, Biography & Autobiography
AuthorNicholas Dawidoff
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Weight23.3 Oz
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2001-052042
Reviews"This is a most engaging book on one of the most distinguished and certainly one of the most interesting members of the Harvard Department of Economics. Alex Gerschenkron's office was next to mi≠we had many years of pleasant association and friendly dispute. I recommend this book not only to those who know Gerschenkron's work but to all who would like acquaintance with one of the truly interesting economists of our time." -- John Kenneth Galbraith, Harvard University "Alex Gerschenkron was a character who stood out even in the post-Conant Harvard of Quine, Woodward, and Schwinger. He was as pugnacious as a hockey player, more erudite than any database, and a meld of Russian, Viennese, and American cultures. His grandson Nicholas Dawidoff has captured in verbal amber Gerschenkron's infinite variety." -Paul A. Samuelson, Nobel Laureate and author of Economics "To give birth to one's own grandfather is no mean feat, but that is exactly Dawidoff's great triumph. The Fly Swatter is a densely imagined, beautifully written book." -Peter Carey, author of True History of the Kelly Gang "This is a most engaging book on one of the most distinguished and certainly one of the most interesting members of the Harvard Department of Economics. Alex Gerschenkron's office was next to mi≠we had many years of pleasant association and friendly dispute. I recommend this book not only to those who know Gerschenkron's work but to all who would like acquaintance with one of the truly interesting economists of our time." -John Kenneth Galbraith, author of The Affluent Society "A loving, carefully researched, effortless-seeming book-a delight to read. The story of the great Alexander Gerschenkron as told by his grandson combines the smallest and most telling personal details with an exhilarating wide-angle view of twentieth-century intellectual life." -Ian Frazier, author of Family and Great Plains, "This is a most engaging book on one of the most distinguished and certainly one of the most interesting members of the Harvard Department of Economics. Alex Gerschenkron's office was next to mi≠we had many years of pleasant association and friendly dispute. I recommend this book not only to those who know Gerschenkron's work but to all who would like acquaintance with one of the truly interesting economists of our time." -- John Kenneth Galbraith, Harvard University "Alex Gerschenkron was a character who stood out even in the post-Conant Harvard of Quine, Woodward, and Schwinger. He was as pugnacious as a hockey player, more erudite than any database, and a meld of Russian, Viennese, and American cultures. His grandson Nicholas Dawidoff has captured in verbal amber Gerschenkron's infinite variety." -Paul A. Samuelson, Nobel Laureate and author ofEconomics "To give birth to one's own grandfather is no mean feat, but that is exactly Dawidoff's great triumph.The Fly Swatteris a densely imagined, beautifully written book." -Peter Carey, author ofTrue History of the Kelly Gang "This is a most engaging book on one of the most distinguished and certainly one of the most interesting members of the Harvard Department of Economics. Alex Gerschenkron's office was next to mi≠we had many years of pleasant association and friendly dispute. I recommend this book not only to those who know Gerschenkron's work but to all who would like acquaintance with one of the truly interesting economists of our time." -John Kenneth Galbraith, author ofThe Affluent Society "A loving, carefully researched, effortless-seeming book-a delight to read. The story of the great Alexander Gerschenkron as told by his grandson combines the smallest and most telling personal details with an exhilarating wide-angle view of twentieth-century intellectual life." -Ian Frazier, author ofFamilyandGreat Plains
TitleLeadingThe
SynopsisThe most interesting lives are not always the best-known lives, and this is the account of a truly fascinating person. The stories of Alexander Gerschenkron-his great escapes, his vivid wit, his feuds, his flirtations, and his supremely cultured mind-are the stuff of legend. Born in 1904 into the progressive Odessa intelligentsia, Gerschenkron fled the Russian Revolution at sixteen and settled in Vienna, immersing himself in the charged civic and intellectual life of another doomed city. Escaping the Nazis in the late 1930s, he made his way to Massachusetts, evolving from a political exile and social outcast into a man referred to by The New York Times as "Harvard's scholarly model," and by his peers as "The Great Gerschenkron"-the Harvard professor who knew the most. Gerschenkron was a dazzling thinker, and his professional theories complemented his personal preoccupations. He was particularly interested in people-and economies-that cleverly overcame the large forces conspiring to hold them back; there were uses, he said, to adversity. Colleagues admired his vigorous ethical code and considered his personality to be perhaps even more original than his work. Gerschenkron was an uncompromising man who feuded with everyone from Vladimir Nabokov to John Kenneth Galbraith, who played chess with Marcel Duchamp, who enjoyed an intimate interlude with Marlene Dietrich, and who was a confidant of both Isaiah Berlin of Oxford and Ted Williams of the Red Sox. Or was he? Layers of mystery and contradiction are at the core of this brilliantly recreated life, this prism through which we look back across some of the most important and unsettling moments of the twentieth century. With The Fly Swatter, best-selling author Nicholas Dawidoff gives us an intelligent, beautifully written, deeply felt biographical memoir of a real-life American character.
LC Classification NumberHB119.G47D39 2002
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Ratings and Reviews
Most relevant reviews
- Aug 07, 2018
The life of a remarkable mind.
My son-in-law’s father was mentored in college by the subject of this book. It is wonderful to read about his life. The writing is personal and so well crafted. I found myself rereading sections. This copy was just added to my collection, along with several others, so that I can pass it on to friends and still keep my own copy. No need to nag for its return. If they don’t want to keep it after reading, I hope they will pass it on and on.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
