author
Henry George
1839–1897
A self-taught journalist and political economist, he became one of the most widely read reform writers of the 19th century. His landmark book Progress and Poverty turned a sharp question into a movement: why does wealth grow while poverty persists?
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Philadelphia on September 2, 1839, Henry George worked at sea as a young man and later settled in California, where he became a printer and journalist. Watching San Francisco grow rapidly while many people remained poor shaped the question that defined his life and writing.
George became famous with Progress and Poverty (1879), a book that argued rising land values were a major cause of inequality. He is best known for proposing a "single tax" on land values while leaving labor and productive investment untaxed, an idea that helped inspire the later movement known as Georgism.
More than an economist, he was also a public speaker and reform advocate whose work influenced Progressive Era debates in the United States and beyond. He died in New York City on October 29, 1897, but his arguments about land, taxation, and economic fairness have continued to be discussed ever since.