Universal Man: The Lives of John Maynard Keynes - Hardcover

Richard Davenport-Hines an award-winning historian, as well as the acclaimed biographer of W. H. Auden and Marcel Proust. An advisor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Royal Society of Literature, he lives in London.

"[A] succinct, lively and well-written biography.... [Reducing the amount written on Keynes] has been done with great elegance and panache by Davenport-Hines, in a volume that will introduce Keynes and his strange world to a new generation of readers."―London Evening Standard

"[Davenport-Hines's] lens is directed not at Keynes the macroeconomist but at Keynes the man himself. Fortunately, the author has a rich and compelling story to tell...non-economists who have never read a Keynes biography and are not looking for lots of technical detail and jargon will find it an absorbing read. Even many economists, like me, are likely to derive some fun and profit from it."―H-Net

"This is an entrancing book, always light but never weightless and I am sure that John Maynard Keynes would have enjoyed it."―The Oldie (UK)

"This book will suit a broad audience wanting to understand Keynes and the period in which he lived."―Library Journal

"An admiring and nuanced book filled with insights into this scholar and man of action in all his complexity."―Kirkus Reviews

"[A] gracefully written biography.... This is a delightful, detailed portrait, rich in interesting anecdote and encompassing the entire roster of Keynes's accomplishments."―Publishers Weekly

"[F]ascinating reading.... [Davenport-Hines] has understood his subject better than any previous biographer.―Spectator (UK)

"Never has the biography of an economist been so gripping, so witty or, indeed, so racy: Keynes had countless flings with men before, as his biographer puts it, 'he got the knack of heterosexuality' and enjoyed a happy marriage."―Daily Mail

"Richard Davenport-Hines's fine series of sketches of Keynes makes a clear case that he was a great man -- intellectually dazzling and original, generous-spirited, industrious, astonishingly wide-ranging and largely effective.... Davenport-Hines has produced a very readable single volume that succeeds...by providing a professional, temperate and clear account of a gripping subject." ―New Statesman (UK)

"[T]his marvelous book is a high achievement: It shows us Keynes as altruist, boy prodigy, official, public man, art connoisseur and envoy. He was a gay man who switched over when he met the Russian dancer Lydia Lopokova, an enjoyer of life who worked himself to death, an economic savior, a truly great man who never imposed a dull moment."―Toronto Star