THE AUTHOR AND THE BOOK

Henry Grady Weaver was born at Eatonton, Georgia, December 24, 1889. He received his B.S. from Georgia Tech in 1911, and held a series of jobs in various phases of the automobile industry until 1921. That was the year he went with General Motors. He soon became head of its Customer Research Staff and was judged of sufficient importance in his field to be the Time magazine “cover man” for its issue of November 14, 1938.

Time said of “Buck” Weaver: “He dresses with studied informality–slouch hat, tweedy, sloppy suit. He is short, bowlegged, has Clark Gable ears and hair cropped short. …

“Jittery as a terrier, he cannot sit still, swivels between two desks, hops up to flip some papers, peers through a cloud of smoke with his one good eye (he has been blind in his right eye since birth). Likable and expansive, he talks incessantly, wrinkles his nose when amused, which is often.”

Mr. Weaver, a Baptist, was married in 1923 (two children). He is the author of many articles on psychological research. Convinced that human liberty is the mainspring of progress– and that government tends always to tyranny–he decided to popularize these themes for the American people. His first major effort was this book, Mainspring. In it he said: “If the book meets with a reasonable reception, I plan to do the same sort of thing with other books. For example, I’d like to reinterpret the writings of Frederic Bastiat in the language of today and from the American viewpoint. I’d like to develop a dramatization of the all-but-forgotten Federalist Papers.”

His Mainspring proved a tremendous success, but Henry Grady Weaver died on January 3, 1949.

In addition to keeping his book in print, the Foundation for Economic Education hopes to accomplish some of the other vitally-needed jobs that Mr. Weaver had mapped out for himself.

First published in 1947 by Talbot Books, some 220,000 copies of Mainspring have been printed.

In an “author’s notation” in the first printing of the book, Mr. Weaver states: “In some respects, Mainspring is a condensation of Rose Wilder Lane’s book, The Discovery of Freedom. In other respects, it is an amplification. Inspired by her thesis and with her gracious consent, I’ve tried to retell her story in my own way, making liberal use of her material – plus ideas growing out of personal experiences and gathered from various sources. Mrs. Lane should not be blamed for any omissions, deviations, and additions. (She does not always agree with me–and vice versa!)”

During one of his visits with us here at the Foundation, Mr. Weaver mentioned the fact that some of his statements had been challenged by readers of his book, and that he intended to make a few minor revisions in the third printing of it. We ourselves offered criticisms and suggestions to Mr. Weaver on a few of these disputed points. He agreed in some instances and noted them for change. Unfortunately, his untimely death occurred before another printing. In the few instances where we recall his agreement, we have taken the liberty of making the changes as discussed with him.

An index has been added to this edition. A new format and type-face have been selected, and the book has been edited in conformity with our own house style – The University of Chicago Press Manual of Style.

Leonard E. Read
of the Foundation Staff