E. F. Schumacher combined his background in economics with an extensive background in theology to create a unique strategy for reforming the world's socioeconomic systems, and by the early 1970s he had risen nearly to folk hero status.

The life cycle of the blood fluke. This parasite causes the disease schistosomiasis in humans. (Illustration by Hans & Cassidy.)

Schumacher was born in Bonn, Germany. He attended a number of educational institutions, including the universities of Bonn and Berlin, as well as Columbia University in the United States. He eventually received a diploma in economics from Oxford University, and emigrated to England in 1937. During World War II, Schumacher was forced to work as a farm laborer in an internment camp. By 1946, however, he had become a naturalized British citizen, and in that same year he accepted a position...