Alias Papa

A Life of Fritz Schumacher

Barbara Wood

• Publisher: Green Books
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9780857840356
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Science & Technology Biographies
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A sympathetic biography of the pioneering environmentalist and author of Small is Beautiful, written by his daughter, and with a foreword by Robert McCrum. E. F. Schumacher was a profound and influential thinker and economist who, at a time of unlimited economic growth, challenged this ideology and proposed an approach to economics 'as if people mattered'. He was one of the first to recognise the impossibility of continuous growth in a finite world, and warned against the world's increasing dependence on oil. A key figure in the development of the environmental movement, Schumacher was also adamantly opposed to what he saw as violent solutions to economic problems, arguing against nuclear energy and advocating human-scale technology and organic cultivation. In 1966, Schumacher set up the Intermediate Technology Development Group (now Practical Action) to provide small-scale technology for developing countries. His people-centred approach to development has now been adopted throughout the world, bringing together theoretical and practical solutions. This fascinating biography traces Schumacher's life: from his early years in Germany and his move to England and internment during the Second World War, through to his later years, with the publication of Small is Beautiful and the worldwide fame that resulted. It shows how his thinking and beliefs changed and evolved as his rigorous and questioning search for truth caused him to reflect on the events of his life and embark on a spiritual journey, changing him as an economist and as a person.

Table of contents

• Front cover
• Copyright page
• CONTENTS
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword by Robert McCrum
• Prologue
• Chapter 1: Grown in German Soil
• Chapter 2: First Taste of England
• Chapter 3: Oxford
• Chapter 4: In New York One Walks on Air
• Chapter 5: Hitler
• Chapter 6: Muschi
• Chapter 7: London
• Chapter 8: A Change in Lifestyles
• Chapter 9: World Improvement Plans
• Chapter 10: Marx v. God
• Chapter 11: Oxford Again
• Chapter 12: Seeds of Change
• Chapter 13: An Englishman in Germany
• Chapter 14: The Final Break
• Chapter 15: Caterham
• Chapter 16: Learning How to Think
• Chapter 17: The Breakthrough
• Chapter 18: ‘I am a Buddhist’
• Chapter 19: The National Coal Board
• Chapter 20: Year of Crisis
• Chapter 21: A Fruitful Partnership
• Chapter 22: Small Talk
• Chapter 23: Travel and Challenge
• Chapter 24: ‘Retirement’
• Chapter 25: Public Property
• Notes
• Index
• Back cover