... a revelation. It showcases the range of Krugman’s intellect and his gift for clear, accessible writing. He neatly mixes pop cultural references and economic data.

All through the book, the reader wonders how so talented and fortunate an author came to develop such a furious and bitter voice. What drives a dazzling academic—the winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in economics, no less—to turn his New York Times column into an undiscriminating guillotine for conservative foes? Krugman is substantively correct on just about every topic he addresses. He writes amusingly and fluently. His combination of analytic brilliance and linguistic facility recalls Milton Friedman or John Maynard Keynes. But Krugman can also sound like a cross between a bloodthirsty Robespierre and a rebarbative GIF.

Serving as a mediator between professionals and lay people interested in political economy, Krugman extols the Affordable Care Act as well as progressives’ proposed policies to alleviate income inequality and climate change. Criticizing by contrast the favorite macroeconomic policy of conservatives, tax cuts (the title’s zombies), Krugman will cheer readers who think as he does and appreciate that he supplies them with evidence and intellectual arguments to buttress their outlooks..

Reading this book will help you appreciate that, despite many trends in the opposite direction, we live in a world where the values of the Enlightenment still exist.

Though the older essays come across as somewhat dated, they recount the debates of the time, and Krugman updates them with more recent ones along with unifying introductions to each section.

Penetrating analyses of urgent, controversial problems.

... smart, tough essays .. .Krugman occasionally resorts to charts and wonkery to refute such pretenses, but mainly exercises his great talent for translating economics into plain English.