Jacob Soll

University of Southern California

Jacob Soll is professor of history and accounting at the University of Southern California. Soll earned a B.A. from the University of Iowa, a D.E.A. from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France, and a Ph.D. from Magdalene College, Cambridge University. Soll has published several books, including, Publishing “The Prince”, his first book, which won the Jacques Barzun Prize from the American Philosophical Society, his 2014 book, The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Rise and Fall of Nations, which has sold more than 60,000 copies worldwide, and his most recent release, Free Market: The History of a Dream. His work has also been published in scholarly journals such as Representations, and chapters in edited volumes such as A Companion to Intellectual History. Soll has also been a correspondent for the Boston Globe, and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Politico, the New Republic, PBS, Salon.com and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Soll has served as a fellow at the Kazarian Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, and John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and his work has earned him many rewards such as the Jacques Barzun Prize in Cultural History from the American Philosophical Society, and the Selma V. Forkosch Prize for the Best Article Published in the Journal of the History of Ideas in the Year.

• A Literal versus Historical Reading of Adam Smith
• Adam Smith’s Misunderstanding of Wealth Creation and His Abhorrence of Greed