PositiveThe Wall Street JournalMr. Hanley...shows that the attention paid to one portion of Smith’s writings in The Wealth of Nations has created a kind of intellectual myopia. It is as if we continue to watch the same 20 minutes of a movie sequel without watching the first installment or finishing the second. We miss vital plot points as well as the overarching vision. We miss Smith’s sustained critique of the dangers of consumerism, what Smith called the \'trinkets of frivolous utility.\' We miss that Smith spoke up for the poorer classes. We miss that virtues like prudence, self-command and benevolence characterize his philosophy better than unfettered trade or the acquisition of wealth ... Our Great Purpose fashions a useful lens through which to view Smith’s full philosophical project and intellectual style, a style that Edmund Burke said was more akin to painting than to writing ... While Mr. Hanley is not the first to point to the Moral Sentiments as a key to unlocking Adam Smith’s thought, he communicates the elegance and difficulty of Smith’s philosophy without portraying it as quixotic. Smith deftly connected all human activity into a single, philosophical portrait, and Our Great Purpose makes a compelling case for us to study it closely. By avoiding the all-too-familiar Smith, Mr. Hanley reunites all the parts of Smith’s philosophy, bringing sympathy out of the shadows of self-interest.