E. F. Schumacher was a profound and influential thinker and economist who, at a time of unlimited economic growth, challenged this ideology and proposed an approach to economics 'as if people mattered'. He was one of the first to recognise the impossibility of continuous growth in a finite world, and warned against the world's increasing dependence on oil. He was a key figure in the development of the environmental movement and was adamantly opposed to what he saw as violent solutions to economic problems, arguing against nuclear energy and advocating human-scale technology and organic cultivation.

Schumacher's particular genius was to bring together the theoretical and the practical. He set up the Intermediate Technology Development Group (now Practical Action) to provide small-scale technology for developing countries, and his people-centred approach to development has now been adopted throughout the world.

This fascinating biography traces Schumacher's life: from his early years in Germany and his move to England and internment during the Second World War, through to his later years, with the publication of Small is Beautiful and the worldwide fame that resulted. It shows how his thinking and beliefs changed and evolved as his rigorous and questioning search for truth caused him to reflect on the events of his life and embark on a spiritual journey which was to change him as an economist and as a person.