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The question, what are the three best books in hot, raises its own 
questions.  Are we looking for the three best instances of primary 
literature or secondary literature?  And if the latter (which is what I 
presume) are we interested in textbooks, books, or articles?  Finally, 
are we looking for books that talk about how to do history, or are 
instances of history (though some do both)? 
 
In my reply, I take it we are talking about the secondary literature, and 
actual instances of history. I tell my hot class that there are few 
decent texts in history of thought, so we'll just rule texts out. So the 
range will be good books and articles.  
 
For books, 2 that come to mind are Skidelsky's masterful and beautifully 
written biography of Keynes, and Peter Clarke's pathbreaking "The 
Keynesian Revolution in the Making." Four articles that I use in my own 
thought class as examples of excellent (but very different from one 
another in content, tone, and approach) contributions are Mirowski's 
"Physics and the  `Marginalist Revolution'" _Cambridge Eco Journal_ 1984, 
Brad Bateman's "In the Realm of Concept and Circumstance" _HOPE_ 1994, 
Vernon Smith's "The Two Faces of Adam Smith" _Southern Eco journal_ July 
1998,  and (a personal favorite) Caldwell's "Hayek and Socialism" _JEL_ 
1997.  
 
Bruce J. Caldwell 
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