The Affluent Society

A well preserved 1961 edition of a classic and still important economics treatise. Includes the first recognised use of the pejorative term "Conventional Wisdom" (and the importance of challenging the same) and logical illustration of the destructive role of marketing in "manufacturing want" for goods and services that serve only to satisfy those synthetic wants and thus divert energy and production away from fundamental human needs. This is how scarcities are contrived to maintain permanent underclasses--no conspiracy required. This is the Readers Union edition of the original 1958 text sold only to members in 1961. The grey cloth-bound boards retain full colour; straight edges and sharp corners, with no marks, scratches, dents or bumps. The text block is square and tightly bound; internally the pages are spotless and without marks of former ownership. A beautifully well preserved volume that will complement any collection (some irony intended).