Amazon.com description: Product Description: Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher, political economist and one of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment. He studied moral philosophy at the University of Glasgow and Oxford University. After graduating, he delivered a successful series of public lectures at Edinburgh and later obtained a professorship at Glasgow. He was then tutor to the Duke of Buccleuch, something that allowed him to travel throughout Europe where he met other intellectual leaders of his day. He returned home and spent the next ten years in writing his magnum opus An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations (1776), which gave him credit as the "father of modern economy". In this all-time classic, he demonstrated the essential principles of economics. In 1778, he settled in Edinburgh as Commissioner of Customs and was a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Smith also wrote many essays and articles on such diverse topics as literature, justice, health, and welfare. His other works include Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759).