POLITICAL ECONOMY OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT 75 (from Warren through to Bagchi himself). Inevitably, then, whoever takes on the writing of such a book will attract criticism. That is as it should be, after all. Critical response should be the hallmark of a living and creative Marxism. To pursue it is, surely, as Perry Anderson has reminded us, "to enter into the freedom of Marxism".20 It is in that spirit which is intended to be positive and constructive, that the foregoing critique has been suggested. One must, also, however, attempt a final, balanced judgement of what is an eminently serious work. In his Introduction to the old Cambridge Economic Handbook series, Keynes wrote that its authors were more anxious to avoid obscure forms of expression than difficult ideas (as cited in the Series Preface to Bagchi's book, p vi). The editors of the new series tell us that it is... aimed at the intelligent undergraduate and interested general reader... [both] in mature capitalist economies .. [and] in developing countries whose problems and whose interaction with the rest of the world have helped to shape the economic issues which have dominated economic thinking in recent decades (loccit). Bagchi meets the first requirement triumphantly. It is a book devoid of obscurity, but in which difficult ideas are conveyed with rare clarity (our criticisms notwithstanding). So it is that he cannot but engage the interest of those members of the indicated target audience, in both the 'first' and 'third' worlds, who are willing to read it and who have an open mind. Those who are actively seeking a general Marxist text on the 'political economy of imerdevelopment9 will welcome it most warmly. Here we have no hastily cobbled together lecture notes without unifying structure, no formless eclecticism, no opportunistic compilation. It is a successful exercise in political economy: a closely textured, carefully formulated argument, rich in concrete and historical analysis; at once, coherent, rigorous and sweeping in its range; abjuring empty abstraction; the product of wide reading, prolonged thought and fierce commitment. T J BYRES Department of Economic and Political Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC IE 7 HP. 1 Thomas S K-uhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago, University of Chicago, 197Q (second edition, enlarged), pp viii, 11. 18-20, 23, 175. 2 Deepak Lal, The Poverty of t Development Economics9 a London, Institute of Economic Affairs, 1983, Summary, point 10. 3 Ibid, pp 43-45 etc. 4 Maurice Dobb, Some Aspects of Economic Development, Delhi, Ranjit Printers and Publishers, 1951, reprinted in Papers on Capitalism, Development and Planning,