Cynthia Earl Kerman

Cynthia Kerman's Creative Tension: the Life and Thought of Kenneth Boulding was published in 1974, while Boulding was still alive and active. Indeed, Boulding would remain a prolific intellectual for another two decades, until his death in 1993.

Kerman's book gives a strong sense of being in the presence of the larger-than-life Boulding. She clearly attended many of Boulding's lectures, spent time with him, and took the time to probe his colleagues for anecdotes and opinions on his work. Readers get a strong sense of the personal style of a well-loved social scientist.

For casual readers seeking to learn about Boulding today, in the 21st Century, it is hard to recommend Kerman's book as the first port of call. A much better starting point is Robert Scott's whole-of-life biography Kenneth Boulding: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (2014), which puts Boulding's work in greater historical context. Scott's book is a focused, well-structured 187 pages, compared to the unnecessarily expansive 344 pages of Kerman.

Despite my reservations, we are lucky that Cynthia Kerman took the time to write this book when Boulding was in the prime of his life. It paints a worthy picture of a trailblazing intellectual of the 20th century.… (meer)