Robert J. Mayhew is Professor of Historical Geography and Intellectual History at the University of Bristol.
In his admirably rounded Malthus: The Life and Legacies of an
Untimely Prophet Mayhew draws our attention to the actual writings
of this pioneer of demography and political economy, and to his
historical context, especially the revolutionary enthusiasm which
Malthus was concerned to dampen… Though Malthus did not go so far
as to interpret our planet as an ecosystem with limited supplies of
clean air and water, Mayhew makes a convincing claim for him as a
founder of what is now called environmental economics… [For]
Mayhew, it is the questions Malthus asked which are still
important.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Mayhew treats his subject sympathetically, but the book admirably
exposes the complete Malthus, warts and all. Nor is any quarter
spared for critics, from the Romantics to Freud, all of whom twist
Malthus to suit their agenda… Mayhew’s signal contribution is to
remind us that the population debate has been contentious for much
of the period since Malthus’s original Essay of 1798. The book also
helps us to understand the dangers of both pro- and
anti-Malthusianism.
*Literary Review*
[A] fine book… Mayhew describes the continuously contested legacy
of what it meant to be a Malthusian, to commend or condemn
Malthusianism in the two centuries after the Essay [on the
Principle of Population] was published. But his book is also
inevitably about us—as we too are obliged to think about our
numbers, about nature and its resources, and about policies for
living in a finite world.
*London Review of Books*
Though critics saw Malthus as contemptuous of the poor and
entrenched in his beliefs, Mayhew reveals him as a humane observer
and insightful commentator, preoccupied with poverty and intent on
reviewing his own earlier utterances, including his contentious
1803 claim that the poor deserved no place at life’s table. By his
death in 1834, Malthus was an authoritative voice on population and
economy, but his reputation—and notoriety—lived on in new versions
of Malthusianism, including some, such as the advocacy of
artificial contraception, he would never have endorsed. Indeed,
Malthus was adopted as a bogeyman in post–1950s U.S. debates about
‘overpopulation,’ environment and security. Mayhew pushes beyond
the stereotypes of Malthus to recover the historical reality… This
is a compelling read.
*BBC History Magazine*
Robert Mayhew helpfully dusts off Malthus and recounts his
influence up to the present day, explaining why, with his one big
idea, he became such an influential figure in European and North
American intellectual history… Mayhew tries to rescue Malthus’
reputation by saying that many of his readers used him without
really understanding him.
*Books & Culture*
In our era of global warming, mass urbanization, nuclear
contamination, rampant pollution, deforestation, strip mining, and
fracking, Malthus’s very attention to the dangers of unchecked
population growth can seem nothing less than prescient… Malthusian
thought has found itself applied to dizzyingly opposite policies
and politics. You’ll find it ingrained in worldviews ranging in
label from radical to reactionary. Mayhew’s book, then, compels us
not only to reread Malthus and consider the background and the
arguable moderation of his reasoning but also to consider, more
broadly, the complicated and fickle ways by which ideas, once they
enter the public domain, become fodder for politically charged
disputes.
*Chronicle of Higher Education*
Loathed by Karl Marx and admired by Charles Darwin, Enlightenment
scholar Thomas Malthus still polarizes, notes historian Robert
Mayhew. The flashpoint was Malthus’s 1798 An Essay on the Principle
of Population, which posits that although humans are prodigal,
nature and resources are limited. Mayhew traces that theory through
revolutionary and reactionary traditions, arguing that it remains
pertinent in an era of economic downturn and shrinking resources,
with predictions of 10 billion humans by 2050.
*Nature*
It is the wide range of techniques [the book] interweaves to
recreate the unique fabric of Malthus’ intellectual life—including
comparative biography, comparative literature and the study of
contemporary journals—that make this a singularly rich portrait…
[Mayhew] is surely right that an attention to the complexities of
Malthus’ ideas and legacies will better equip us to deal with our
present environmental challenges than will simplistic,
self-edifying binaries.
*Times Higher Education*
Robert Mayhew’s account of the intellectual life and legacy of
Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) is a fascinating, erudite and readable
interdisciplinary—indeed, multidisciplinary—intellectual history…
Mayhew is very good not just at contextualizing Malthus but in
breaking down the binary divide separating Malthus and his
enemies—in the process, teasing out from Malthus’s work (and how we
have understood him) so much that is of value then and now.
*English Historical Review*
Robert J. Mayhew explains complex economic ideas with clarity and
shows that even though Malthus and his Essay are still remarkably
well-known, his work is often an (unread) reference point. Mayhew
underscores how Malthus’s ideas are perpetually modern, and
remarkably so.
*Alison Bashford, author of Global Population: History,
Geopolitics, and Life on Earth*
A stylish, well-written, exuberant, and cleverly conceived book.
Malthus is a thoughtful and skillful achievement.
*Donald Winch, author of Wealth and Life: Essays on the
Intellectual History of Political Economy in Britain*
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