Thorstein Veblen was once described by Fortune magazine as "America's most brilliant and influential critic of modern business and the values of a business civilization," and his wisdom and often dry, satiric wit continues to be obvious today. In The Theory of Business Enterprise, first published in 1904, he ravages corporate malfeasance and the greed that was spurring the robber barons of his day. If it all sounds familiar a century later, it's a testament to the timelessness of Veblen's criticisms of the corporate world, the wrongdoings of which today he would readily recognize. Modern readers will appreciate this reintroduction to one of the great economic thinkers. American economist and sociologist THORSTEIN BUNDE VEBLEN (1857-1929) was educated at Carleton College, Johns Hopkins University and Yale University. He coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption." Among his most famous works are The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899), Imperial Germany and the Industrial Revolution (1915), and The Higher Learning in America: A Memorandum (1918).