"It is something of a relief to turn to Morgan’s short, easily read book. It considers what happened - at least in the broad - through the perspective of the thought of Adam Smith. The book is something of a primer - with a useful diagram setting out the key elements of Smith’s views. Numbers identify each key idea with useful and revealing quotes from Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations grouped by subject. [...] In his conclusion, Morgan stresses Smith as a proponent on moral grounds of a market economy with limited government as the one most suited to the moral nature of humanity, and as encouraging both moral behaviour and outcomes. Adam Smith was a careful and nuanced thinker, convinced that a free society with limited government was best suited to humanity’s moral nature. Nothing has happened since then — certainly no passing financial crisis — to undermine the depth of his insight and the general correctness of this perspective. Richard Morgan has performed a most useful service in making the key elements of Smith’s thought so accessible."