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In 1890s America Thorstein Veblen attacked a careless acceptance of prevailing social structures, identifying ancient roots for 'pecuniary culture' and 'conspicuous consumption' - realities that promoted materialism and squashed fulfilment. In The Theory of the Leisure Class the worthy Engineer, creating essential products for all, is pitted against the predatory Businessman, exempt from grubby industrial toil and focussed on useless profits. Thanks to its literary merit, placing Veblen among outstanding like-minded contemporaries such as Edith Wharton and Henry James, the arguments it contains were especially persuasive. Veblen shook things up with his fascinating analysis of a society that is wasting time and money. Greatly influential and ever relevant, it is presented here with warmth and authority by Robert G. Slade.
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Reviews
"Veblen's landmark 1899 work of sociology and economics is generally abstract, academic, complex, and perhaps especially difficult to absorb by listening. Robert Slade's performance is engaged, energetic, and intelligent, but his accurate narration does not necessarily elucidate or even convey the sense of Veblen's purposefully, even performatively, obfuscatory jargon. Long chains of complex academic sentences sometimes lead Slade to a kind of droning narration, perhaps unavoidably. But he also seems almost rushed, as if trying to get listeners through before he loses them; slower pacing might have helped. Slade's narration is generally expressive but straightforward, so he doesn't convey Veblen's coyly sarcastic tone, which mocks the wealthy and privileged.
Slade's performance is vivid and clear, but he can't make this difficult classic congenial, easy, or enjoyable."
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