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Full Description
A product of the Scottish Enlightenment, William Playfair (1759-1823) worked as a statistician, economist, engineer, banker, land speculator, scam artist, and political propagandist. It has been claimed - erroneously - that Playfair was a spy for the British government and ran a forging operation to print the paper money of the French Revolution.
The Flawed Genius of William Playfair offers a complete account of Playfair's life, richly contextualized in the economic, political, and cultural history of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The book explores the many peaks and troughs of Playfair's career, ranging from moderate prosperity to bankruptcy and imprisonment.
Through careful analysis, David R. Bellhouse shows that Playfair was neither a spy nor a forger, but perhaps briefly a one-time courier for a government minister. Bellhouse pieces together as complete a picture as possible of the forging operations supported by the British government and illuminates Playfair's lasting contributions in economics and statistics, where he is known as the father of statistical graphics. Disputing the misinformation about the man, The Flawed Genius of William Playfair highlights that the truth about Playfair's life is often more intriguing than the fictions that surround him.
Contents
Preface: Playfair Is Introduced
1. Playfair Is Sent to Newgate Prison
2. Playfair Goes to Birmingham to Work for Boulton and Watt
3. Playfair Goes to London to Set Up His Own Business
4. Playfair Evolves into a Writer by Profession
5. Playfair Expresses His Early Political Views
6. Playfair Makes His Mark on Statistical Graphics
7. Playfair Goes to Paris
8. Playfair Tries to Take Advantage of the French Revolution
9. Playfair Escapes from France and Returns to England
10. Playfair Becomes an Avid Anti-Jacobin Propagandist
11. Playfair Gets Involved with Forged Assignats
12. Playfair Starts a Bank and Goes Bankrupt
13. Playfair Ekes Out a Living as a Bankrupt
14. Playfair Has a Good Year during 1805 with Hints of Ending Badly
15. Playfair Has Serious Legal and Other Problems
16. Playfair Dabbles Deeply into Family History and Political Biography
17. Playfair Continues Writing and Tries a Few More Scams to Get to Paris
18. Playfair Returns to Paris
19. Playfair Spends His Last Few Years in England in Poverty
Afterword: Playfair Avoids a Shakespearean Epitaph
Appendix: Assignat Forging by French Emigres in England
Notes
Index
