I've been on the road and have only just caught up with these postings. Nevertheless, I offer the following. If you are interested in understanding the *General Theory* might I suggest that you have a look at my own book on the subject, *Say's Law and the Keynesian Revolution* (Edward Elgar, 1998). The book outlines the origins of the *General Theory *rather than just presenting a sequence of events culminating in Keynes's somewhat mysterious change of direction at the end of 1932, a change in direction which is usually left unexplained. As the book shows, the *General Theory *grew out of Keynes's coming across Malthus's economic writings in late 1932 and his taking from those writings the notions of aggregate demand and demand deficiency. Indeed, so far as I know, it is the only book that explains how and why Keynes made a refutation of Say's Law the essence of his argument. A perhaps more straightforward although much briefer discussion of these issues may be found in an earlier article of mine, "The Malthusian Origins of the *General Theory,*" published in the *History of Economics Review *in 1994. Seeing the *General Theory* through its genealogy brings the underlying arguments to the surface. Since virtually no economist brought up on economics as taught today can be expected to understand the actual significance and meaning of Say's Law in classical economic theory, and can therefore be expected to understand just what was at stake, it has therefore become almost impossible to see the argument that Keynes was making and why his conclusions were as revolutionary as they were. Steve Kates