Reviews
The authors have an important story to tell. Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War is well done and presents important economic concepts, analyses of the blockades, the efforts of both sides to finance the war, and the consequences of the war. This new text will be useful in courses on the Civil War and American economic history., Mark Thornton and Robert B. Ekelund, Jr. have written a concise synthesis of economic change during the Civil War., For readers unfamiliar with the Austrian approach to economics, the two authors offer a readable, enjoyable treatise that introduces the works of many economists operating under the Austrian approach. . . . The authors have capably introduced readers to the burgeoning corpus of Austrian analysis of the war., Mark Thornton and Robert Ekelund, Jr. manage, within the covers of a slim volume, to supply fresh insights into the economic and political forces that led to war, contributed to the Confederacy's defeat, and shifted governmental power permanently toward the center. . . . Consistently spirited and thought-provoking, Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation is a distinctive addition to the literature on the Civil War and to economic history more generally. . . . [Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation] breaks new ground in applying neoclassical economic theory and public choice reasoning to the analysis of a pivotal and endlessly fascinating period in U.S. history. . . . Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation is must reading for public choice economists, economic historians, and students who want-or can be assigned to want-a concise, user-friendly introduction to economic principles and their application., Mark Thornton and Robert Ekelund, Jr. manage, within the covers of a slim volume, to supply fresh insights into the economic and political forces that led to war, contributed to the Confederacy's defeat, and shifted governmental power permanently toward the center. . . . Consistently spirited and thought-provoking, Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation is a distinctive addition to the literature on the Civil War and to economic history more generally. . . . [ Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation ] breaks new ground in applying neoclassical economic theory and public choice reasoning to the analysis of a pivotal and endlessly fascinating period in U.S. history. . . . Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation is must reading for public choice economists, economic historians, and students who want-or can be assigned to want-a concise, user-friendly introduction to economic principles and their application., A readable, enjoyable treatise that introduces the works of many economists operating under the Austrian approach., An extremely penetrating work that broadens our understanding of the great sectional conflict we call the Civil War--a war that not only changed forever the cultural fabric of the United States but inexorably altered the government established by the Farmers., In concise and clear prose Professors Mark Thornton and Robert Ekelund use basic economics to explain the causes, outcome, and consequences of the Civil War., An extremely penetrating work that broadens our understanding of the great sectional conflict we call the Civil War "a war that not only changed forever the cultural fabric of the United States but inexorably altered the government established by the Farmers.
