More than a half century after his writings won widespread acclaim, John Kenneth Galbraith remains the world’s most famous living economist. The 96-year-old former ambassador, presidential advisor, and Harvard professor has left an indelible mark on our times.

Galbraith remains a disputed figure. His liberal views have often been out of sync with prevailing political winds. And his view of the world is marked for tear down by conservative supporters of the Bush Administration.

Now, in a new authorized biography, Richard Parker tells the remarkable story of how a boy from a farm in Ontario grew up to be one of the world’s most towering intellects and moral truth-tellers.

Hear a conversation with biographer Richard Parker about John Kenneth Galbraith and the fate of the New Deal’s legacy in the era of George W. Bush.

Guests:

Richard Parker, Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, author of “John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics”;
Austan Goolsbee, professor of economics at the University of Chicago;
Jack Beatty, “On Point” news analyst and senior editor at the Atlantic Monthly magazine