"The Great Recession of 2008 restored John Maynard Keynes to prominence. After decades when the Keynesian revolution seemed to have been forgotten, the great British theorist was suddenly everywhere. The New York Times asked, "What would Keynes have done?" The Financial Times wrote of "the...

Prologue: opening the door on Malthus's rollercoaster -- Before Malthus: population, economy and environment in eighteenth century England -- Prophets of perfection: a revolutionary triptych -- The first inconvenient truth: Malthus's essay and the quiet revolution of 1798 -- "Diarrhoea of the...