Karl Polanyi's belief that the greatest threat to freedom was a poorly administered economy led him to an economics that was more existential and human-centered. Part I of this book develops Polanyi's thinking for its significance today through a selection of papers on re-reading his major work entitled "The Great Transformation." Part II looks at the life and work of Ilona Duczynska (Polanyi's wife), political activist, writer and translator and important influence over Karl and his work.

Kenneth McRobbie, a poet and historian who teaches at the University of British Columbia, is the editor of "Humanity, Society and Commitment."

Kari Polanyi Levitt, emeritus professor at McGill University, is the editor of "The Life and Work of Karl Polanyi."

"For over 20 years, the developing world has been adjusting to the agendas of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In the 1990s, Structural Adjustment Programmes were repackaged and marketed as the coming of the golden age of globalisation, promising benefits to countries that adopt neo-liberal policies. Whether by convention or apparent absence of viable alternatives, Caribbean governments have been quick to implement policies of deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation. In this they have been supported by their intellectuals who have been equally quick in embracing globalisation and too ready to concede the end of national sovereignty. Kari Levitt argues that it is time to reclaim the right to development and the right of nations to engage in the international economy on their own terms. She advocates an international rule-based order which permits space for member countries to follow divergent paths to development according to their own philosophies, institutions, cultures and societal priorities. This book represents a historic sweep of Caribbean thought and personalities over the past 30 years drawn against the background of the changes in the international political economy. Whether in her collaboration with Lloyd Best on the Plantation Economy Model, her analyses of Debt and Adjustment, or her insistence on the right of sovereign nations to pursue their own development path, Kari Levitt remains consistent in her conviction that development, whether of individuals or nations, must be rooted in time and place and cannot be imposed by external prescription. "

George Beckford left the Caribbean region, and the underdeveloped world in general, an extraordinary body of work that spanned his career as economics professor, advisor to governments, and consultant to international organizations. "George Beckford's work is characterized by a remarkable consistency of purpose and vision . . . [This collection presents] the unfolding of George Beckford's work from agricultural economics to political economy, to the social economy of 'man space', to the cultural roots of Caribbean creativity and a vision of one independent, sovereign and self-reliant Caribbean nation . . . His purpose was to reveal the legacy of dispossession originating in the slave plantation experience of African people in the New World; to 'free the mind' from the internalization of attitudes of inferiority and 'Afro-Saxon' mimicry. His vision was the affirmation of the culture of 'overcoming' rooted in the Caribbean 'peasantry' and the land". Introduction