Why has "America" - that is, the United States of America - become so much more than simply a place in the imagination of so many people around the world? In both Europe and Latin America, the United States has often been a site of multiple possible futures, a screen onto which could be projected utopian dreams and dystopian nightmares. Whether castigated as a threat to civilized order or championed as a promise of earthly paradise, America has invariably been treated as a cipher for modernity. It has functioned as an inescapable reference point for both European and Latin American societies,...

The foundation for all modern economic thought and political economy, "The Wealth of Nations" is the magnum opus of Scottish economist Adam Smith, who introduces the world to the very idea of economics and capitalism in the modern sense of the words. Smith details his argument in the following five books: Book I. Of the Causes of Improvement in the productive Power of Labour, Book II. Of the Nature, Accumulation, and Employment of Stock Introduction, Book III. Of the Different Progress of Opulence in Different Nations, Book IV. Of Systems of Political Economy, and Book V. Of the Revenue of...

Man's moral nature is influenced by sentiment and sympathy. The human ability to sympathize forms the psychological basis of man's desire to adhere to natural moral laws. Adam Smith explores ideas about individual freedom and self-interest, conscience and virtue, and a classic work of moral philosophy that remains relevant.