From Library Journal
When you admire a poem, painting or piece of music, do you wonder how these "works of art" came about? To answer this question, Cowen (economics, George Mason Univ.) examines the relationship of artists through history to the market forces that helped foster them. Not every artist was supported by a Medici or a Rockefeller, but Cowen argues that capitalism's support of culture can be traced far back. He uses as his example the invention of the printing press, which in a remarkably unsupportable conjecture he maintains "paved the way for classical music" by enabling composers to record their notes mechanically and sell their sheet music. Unfortunately, in this discussion he totally discounts the importance of engraving by hand, and his examination of music centers mostly on composers and practically ignores the musicians. Cowen's book at least gives weight to the ongoing arts debate by citing the worsening plight of artists. But he doesn't relate this point to his general thesis, and his book reads too much like a textbook, with patches of lifeless prose, mountains of statistics, and forests of footnotes. One can almost hear the undergraduates groan. For larger academic libraries.ARichard S. Drezen, Washington Post News Research Ctr., Washington, DC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Pressestimmen
In a wide-ranging, brilliant, and thought-provoking book, Tyler Cowen has come to the cultural defense of capitalism. He argues that the record of free markets in supporting culture can stand comparison with that of any other system, from feudalism to communism...Cowen is amazingly learned, both in scholarship about the arts and in the arts themselves. He moves effortlessly from painting to music to literature. He also navigates skillfully between high and low culture, whether he is comparing the great piano virtuoso Franz Liszt to a contemporary stage performer like Prince, or showing how the second part of "Don Quixote" follows the same logic as do movie sequels like "The Empire Strikes Back" or "Terminator 2"...This is a very important and original book. -- Paul Cantor "American Enterprise"
