The Lost Massey Lectures: Recovered Classics from Five Great Thinkers [Paperback]

I'm truly in love with this form of exposition. The Massey Lectures were begun in 1961 and are a series of 5 or 6 lectures by a noted individual "to communicate the results of original study or research on a variety of subjects of general interest." Often it forces the speaker to crystallize their thoughts and produce some real diamonds. The lectures are broadcast nationally on CBC Radio and then converted to essay form. This collection features the following:

John Kenneth Galbraith: The Underdeveloped Country (1965)

Much of what Galbraith says is still part of current discourse. A sample of observations that Galbraith makes: that it is the poor that tend towards conservatism - "if there is no margin to spare the is no margin to risk", and the tendency for the poor to create unsustainable population growth as "sex may be the only available recreation of the poor". Whereas encouraging economic growth can counter communism and totalitarianism, in lawless or corrupt nations economic aid may have no effect as visible assets may be subject to confiscation and it may be preferable to put $ in a Swiss account. Forcing military expenditures on poor nations is counterproductive to the creation of free societies.

All of what Galbraith says was and still is, IMV, reasonable advice. The five talks are easily digestible and while cautioning the reader that any given schema will not fill all, he proposes 3 different models of developing countries - Model I countries pertain mostly to Africa where the problem is the lack of a large enough educated workforce including teachers and knowledge workers to create and sustain a modern economy. Model II encompasses countries such as Central and South America, Iran, Syria and Iraq that do not lack capital for development nor educated people where the problem can be viewed as political and cultural in nature - it should be up to these countries to find their own way though assistance may be offered. The problem here may not be absence of aptitude but absence of opportunity. Model III countries would include India and China where there is a broad cultural base for economic advancement but available capital has been sparse due to large population size and continual subdivision of land reducing agricultural support to subsistence levels.

What is enjoyable is that it is possible to look back on the last 45 years and gauge that Galbraith has been mostly right. Asia and South America have pursued strategies which have taken them out of 3rd world status and lower birth rates/smaller families as well as education all seem to be the contributing factor, whereas the Middle East seems split between the improving nations (ie: the GCC, Saudi Arabia) where oil wealth has been benefited the citizenry, and Africa seems mired at the same stages.

For a quick graphic view of the global rise of economic well being, I recommend viewing Hans Rosling's talk at [...] and run the associated software simulation in your browser.

Paul Goodman: The Moral Ambiguity of America (1966)

I spent wonderful and exhausting/exhilarating evening dancing a pas de deux with the ideas of Paul Goodman. The world he speaks of as becoming is the world I have lived. This is what our social and political future looked like back in the early 1960s.

In some cases he was dead right, in others he had the right issues but the wrong answers, or at least not the answers the history wound up providing, in a few cases I felt the issue became irrelevant, however it was important at the time.

America was overspending on a war economy (check); foreign aid makes things worse (noted, there have been some improvements, still a ways to go); the poor, young and elderly are disengaged (more fragmented was the result; the paradox of freedom), people are mesmerized by faith in authority authority institutions (no, we've gone the other way); courts are moving not to let the poor in jail (jails have grown larger, more of a rotating population, but demographics have lead to reduced violence); he likes urban folk music but sees it as inauthentic to it's roots but true to urban confusion (could have a long discussion just on this); he has faith in students to promote change but there is a tendency to drop out of the movement (well duh, it's fashion, not commitment - the were trying it on) - some turn to Marxism but Marxist theorists have nothing new so they move on (people need to listen more to Marx's millions victims - utopianism leads to dystopias); neighbourhood radio as a democratizing influence (2010 saw the passing of the Local Community Radio Act which allows the creation of 10 watt low power radio stations); computers as a symbol of authoritarian rigidity (vs they've been an incredibly powerful tool for freedom and expression); he waxed on about students creating their own curriculum (been there, done that - you need a concentration of type A and B personalities to pull it off - didn't work for everyone); the industrial revolution was careless with the environment and social costs (agreed, but the boomers and post boomers moved in and have made value changes in the system).

And so on. Agreed and disagreed and was completely engaged.

Though I had never heard of Mr. Goodman before he apparently was quite well known in his day. In the next section Martin Luther King mentions his book Growing Up Absurd as one of his influences.

Martin Luther King, Jr: Conscience For Change (1967)

For many readers this would be a special treat and normally I'd agree, but coming after Paul Goodman it was a bit of a letdown. In contrast MLK is more off the cuff. He speaks from the heart but is less prepared, less focused for the occasion, the final lecture was actually designed and delivered as his 1967 Christmas sermon in Atlanta, not for this series.

He begins by mentioning that the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" was code for the Big Dipper and the underground railroad to Canada. At the time the struggle for racial equality in the United States was in full swing and he gives a good account of many of the touch points in society - the anger of the poor, the need for education and opportunity, Vietnam and the disproportionate number of young blacks in the military.

His comments on non-violence are interesting. One of the procedures prior to his marches was to ask his followers to turn in any knives or weapons that they had brought with them. Another comment was that in riots most crimes were against property, not people, and in some cases rioters returned merchandize. The point was to make a point.

Jane Jacobs: Canadian Cities and Sovereignty Association (1979)

I was a bit nervous here. Jane is a hero to me but I've always been on the federalist side of the Quebec sovereignty issue. Le Québec est inclus dans mon pays. However I was not disappointed - what Jane does here is to soften the blow should it occur arguing in favor of regional economic tools. I think Montreal can be a great city w out separation. however what was particularly interesting was her comparative case study of Norwegian's peaceful road to independence. As such this is a worthy addition to Ms. Jacob's body of work.

Eric Kierans: Globalization and The Nation State (1983)

In many respects this is a man that history has left behind. His main focus is the Williamsburg G7 Summit of 1983 which resulted in agreements in the dismantling of trade barriers between member nations and on a movement towards reducing nuclear arms (START). His fear was that the response to Soviet hegemony is the construction of a similarly styled American hegemony, forced by a fear of nuclear weapons. Tongue in cheek he suggests that the US and Russia seek economies of scale by getting together to manufacture nukes and splitting the production run between them.

Kierans was also rightly concerned about foreign takeovers and policy decisions made abroad, which in essence the anti-globalism arg, but misses the counter argument that appropriately constructed trade treaties actually can (and did) result in the redistribution of wealth from richer to poorer countries and an export of jobs and wealth from the centre. And then of course there is the counter-counter argument that came later of a race to the bottom in terms of worker's wages, rights and working conditions and so forth.

His views are cogent and applicable, in particular that the goal of increased consumption (Adam Smith) should be replaced by a goal of equitable distribution. In other words this is the old saw that you get what you measure.... the trick is to know what to measure.

Summing Up

Ideally it would be valuable to some people to package these talks separately as I don't think the entire collection would appeal to everyone. As much as Canada does present good lessons to the world at large Keirans and Jacobs in particular represent Canadian interests and Americans might be only interested in Galbraith, Goodman and King. However the collection is moderately priced and each lecture set individually is worth more than what is being asked for. Digitally it probably would make sense to purchase them individually under an iTunes style approach or even as podcasts.

Pick it up - you won't be disappointed. Or get your library to order a copy.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  5.0 out of 5 stars