The author of this book is American journalist Sylvia Nazar, who wrote the famous biography of mathematician John Nash, on which the film “A Beautiful Mind” was based. The “great goal” from the title of the book is the prosperity of the greatest possible number of inhabitants of the globe. “The Path to the Great Goal” begins in the middle of the 19th century, the century of Queen Victoria and her all-powerful empire. But very soon the world is engulfed by one catastrophic war, followed by another. Governments around the world - from communist to the most capitalist countries - are playing an increasingly important role in economic life. Economic theories are becoming everyday practice, and once-armchair scientists - John Maynard Keynes, Irving Fisher, Joseph Schumpeter - are desperately arguing between themselves and force politicians to take their opinions into account. “The Path to the Great Goal” is a fascinating panorama of the political and intellectual life of people, countries and continents, from Victorian England to modern America and India, from Karl Marx and Charles Dickens to Milton Friedman and Amartya Sen.