Adam Smith reconsidered. History, liberty, and the foundations of modern politics: by Paul Sagar, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 2022, 248 pp., $35.00/£28.00 (hb), ISBN 9780691210834.

Put simply, Sagar argues that Smith did not need to defend commercial society from Rousseau's criticisms, simply because the Scottish philosopher did not regard the "citizen of Geneva" as a worthy opponent to be fought. A key part of scholarship on Adam Smith has been devoted to reconciling or seeking unity between the moral theory presented in I The Theory of Moral Sentiments i and the economic insights found in I The Wealth of Nations i . Moreover, these studies have reached an impasse: should not Smith be concerned with, or even be a critic of, the unpleasant moral effects produced by a society regulated by the market?. [Extracted from the article]