Entre Nous — A Review of the Friedman–Stigler Correspondence

Reading this volume generates reflections which are more substantial than a mere nostalgic yearning for times past. Technology has condemned to the museum archives a means of personal and business communication which had outlasted the centuries. Letters not only were for most of history the only way accurately to convey thought, emotion and information over long distances, but a method that was remarkably cheap as well. In the 90s, the rise of e-mail has largely put paid to those fondly received missives. Today, I would be hard pressed to recall the last time I received an overseas letter, although in the late 80s and early 90s such occurrences were routine. What makes this more than just a yearning for familiar ways is that technology changes not only communication channels but the very content of that medium. The style, structure and thought behind a handwritten (and perhaps even a typed) letter is definably different from the modest e-mail which is more of an off-the-cuff note. Moreover, e-mail is ephemeral. Few people print out and store them as they might preserve letters. So the sad news when we read this wonderful collection is that future generations will turn to the equivalent of the Stigler or Friedman archive and find a bare cupboard instead of a treasure trove of material. Future biographers and historians of thought will come to mourn this loss. What is to be done? Nothing, except to enjoy those opportunities that we still have at hand.