Economic history Books

Book SynopsisA Times Best Business Book of 2018What can the ideas of history''s greatest economists tell us about the most important issues of our time?''The best place to start to learn about the very greatest economists of all time'' Professor Tyler Cowen, author of The Complacent Class and The Great StagnationSince the days of Adam Smith, economists have grappled with a series of familiar problems - but often their ideas are hard to digest, before we even try to apply them to today''s issues. Linda Yueh is renowned for her combination of erudition, as an accomplished economist herself, and accessibility, as a leading writer and broadcaster in this field; and in The Great Economists she explains the key thoughts of history''s greatest economists, how their lives and times affected their ideas, how our lives have been influenced by their work, and how they could help with the policy challenges that we face today. ITrade ReviewAre you looking to learn about the very greatest economists of all time? Linda Yueh's book is the best place to start, a modern-day version of Robert Heilbroner's classic The Worldly Philosophers. -- Tyler Cowen, the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University, and author of The Complacent Class and The Great StagnationEconomics students are not taught the history of economic thought. They, like others, can learn a lot from this book: some of the great economists of the past had insights that could have saved the subject from its recent embarrassments. -- Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Oxford UniversityNot only a great way to learn in an easily readable manner about some of the greatest economic influences of the past, but also a good way to test your own a priori assumptions about some of the big challenges of our time. -- Lord Jim O’Neill, former Chairman at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, former UK Treasury Minister, and author of The Growth MapA fascinating event for anyone interested in economics. For this is a book which, as the title suggests, champions the value of studying the leading economic thinkers of the past ... As an Oxford don and a professor at London Business School, Yueh undoubtedly knows her stuff; and as a former chief business correspondent for the BBC and economics editor at Bloomberg TV, she is a well-known and skilful communicator ... The achievements of modern, scientific economics are significant, and the reader who wants a slick and well-curated tour of its current policy recommendations will profit greatly from Yueh's enjoyable and up-to-date book. -- Felix Martin * New Statesman *An extremely engaging survey of the lifetimes and ideas of the great thinkers of economic history, woven together with fascinating and useful discussions of how their ideas still shape economic policy today. Yueh's book is reminiscent of Heilbroner's marvellous classic The Wordly Philosophers, but more focused on contemporary debates on inequality, trade and productivity. Although targeted at readers interested in economic issues, this book would also make an excellent supplementary reading for undergraduate courses in economics, politics and social studies. -- Kenneth Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University, author of The Curse of Cash and co-author of This Time is DifferentLinda Yueh has had the brilliant idea of, not just describing the theories of each great thinker, but linking each one to a particular problem of today ... I am sure Linda Yueh's original approach will deepen students' understanding of the Great Economists. * Lord Lamont, former Chancellor of the Exchequer *What would the great economists of the past make of today's problems? Linda Yueh takes on this ambitious task in this engaging book, introducing us to the work of each economist and conjecturing how they might have advised us. This book is a very readable introduction to the lives and thinking of the greats, and reminds us that policymakers continue to be, as Keynes wrote, "slaves of some defunct economist". -- Raghuram Rajan, Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and author of I Do What I Do and Fault LinesTo anyone with even a passing interest in the economic problems, large and small, affecting us today, What Would the Great Economists Do? comes at the right time: a highly accessible and acute guide to thinking and learning from the men and woman whose work can inform and ultimately aid us in understanding the great national and global crises we face. -- Nouriel Roubini, author of the New York Times bestselling Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of FinanceThis well-written book provides more than an engaging discussion of how the "Great Economists" changed the course of economic thinking and history. It links their insights to current economic challenges, assessing how their unique contributions can improve future wellbeing. It concludes by artfully bringing together the economists' individual insights to shed light on the backlash against globalization. Read it not only to learn about the world's great economists, but also to see how consequential thought innovations can be, and have been. -- Mohamed A. El-Erian, Chief Economic Adviser at Allianz, former CEO of PIMCOIs economics a science in which each new generation's discoveries build on those of the old? Or a humanistic study in which old ideas remain valid and relevant today? Linda Yueh's account of the thinking of the great economists demonstrates that both perspectives are true. -- Professor John KayA highly informative and entertaining introduction to the ideas of some of the great economists. -- Robert A. Cord, editor of The Palgrave Companion to Cambridge Economics, co-editor of Milton Friedman: Contributions to Economics and Public Policy, and author of Reinterpreting the Keynesian RevolutionYou can see her journalistic training in the way she makes connections between the lives, characters and thinking of her subjects -- John Lanchester * Sunday Times *Crisp pen portraits and introductions to complex ideas have been melded with an assessment of what a particular dead economist might have advised about a contemporary issue ... The portraits are entertainingly crafted and the details of family lives well deployed. -- Iain Martin * The Times *Would [Adam] Smith's view have changed in modern times? Probably yes. Linda Yueh in her brilliant new book, "The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today", argues that due to rapid technological advancements since Smith's time, the tune of the musician, which he regarded as ephemeral, now holds tangible value. Also, since Smith believed in the power of the invisible hand of the markets, he would have derided any move towards introducing market distortions like the Trump tariffs to promote manufacturing. * India Times *I certainly wish that [The Great Economists] had been around when I started to study the subject. -- Dr Matthew Partridge * Money Week *The style is engaging and takes the readers through key elements of the economic challenges we currently face, with the support of data and international comparisons ... Readers will certainly enjoy learning about the economists, as many of them lived quite unconventional lives. -- Angela Gallo * Financial Times Adviser *As a broad and accessible overview of the lives and ideas of prominent economic thinkers, Yueh's book is a useful addition to the field. Its strongest sections make important connections between historical figures and modern decision-makers, such as the chapter detailing former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke's interest in Irving Fisher's debt-deflation hypothesis. -- Alasdair Hutchison * Reaction *Readable, informative, and thought-provoking, and deserves a place in all libraries -- David Tyckoson * Booklist *The book is lucidly written... It offers glimpses into the lives of these influential economists, often laced with interesting nuggets of information. -- Ishan Bakshi * Business Standard *An accessible and lively evaluation of the global financial crisis . . . [Yueh] has a way of simplifying the arcane and ferreting out good news - of which we need a lot. -- Mary Kaye Schilling * Newsweek *Awesome yet accessible...recommended! -- Tim HarfordAmazing new book . . . warmly recommend -- NPR Planet MoneyExcellent . . . what makes this book special is that it is simple to read and understand . . . extremely engaging and serves a grand five-star buffet -- Madan Sabnavis * Financial Express *Want to learn about great ideas in economics and the great economists without doing any algebra? Here is an engagingly written book for you by Linda Yueh. She is both a real economist and an experienced journalist, so she knows how and what to write * Richard Baldwin *A great book and Linda Yueh is well worth listening to -- Kevin Watkins, former head of the Overseas Development InstituteYueh's CV - Oxford economics fellow; former editor at Bloomberg TV; ex-advisor to the World Bank - could inspire an inferiority complex in almost anyone. Yet she has written a remarkably accessible primer that profiles 12 of history's greatest economists (from Adam Smith to Joan Robinson), and then asks what they can reveal about the world today. Perhaps its most important lesson is not to take financial advice from economists: many of Yueh's subjects lost fortunes * The Times, Best business books of 2018 *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“[A]n important and fundamentally correct critique of the core methodology of economics: individualistic; analytical; ahistorical; asocial; and apolitical.”—Martin Wolf, Financial Times“This impassioned critique aims to show how economic laws have limited scope compared with the laws in natural science. To be effective, Skidelsky argues, economics must include institutions and their power, and move towards social sciences such as politics and sociology.”—Andrew Robinson, Nature“[T]his book is a staple for trying to quench curiosity and a great bridge from a bachelor’s in standard economics to economic methodology and the philosophy of economics.”—Ella Needler and Maria João Pimenta, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics“[Skidelsky] argues that the insights of behavioural economics, and other heterodoxies, are either ignored or treated as special cases of only limited relevance. All of this has resonance.”—Bridget Rosewell, Society of Professional Economists“Skidelsky’s book is a much-needed contribution to the ongoing debate of the shortcomings of mainstream economics and its economic policy suggestions. . . . I think that the book should be essential reading not only for all students of economics but for everyone who is interested in a deeper understanding of major contemporary economic and political issues.”—Stavros A. Drakopoulos, History of Economic Ideas“Robert Skidelsky has written the book that anyone who wants to learn economics—and anyone who thinks that they know economics—should read.”—Meghnad Desai, author of Hubris: Why Economists Failed to Predict the Crisis and How to Avoid the Next One“This is a cogent and highly readable exposure of economics as a discourse, often free from the constraints of history and politics, and therefore free to inhabit an imaginary world underpinned by the seductive verities of logic and mathematics. It also helps to explain why 2008 took the whole world by surprise.”—Gareth Stedman Jones, author of An End to Poverty?“Skidelsky gives a wonderfully readable, compelling and compassionate account of where economics goes wrong. This is an urgent message for all sides to hear.”—Nancy Cartwright, professor of philosophy, Durham University

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Book SynopsisThe first global history of the epic early days of the iron railwayTrade Review“One does not have to be a train-spotter to read it: it tells a crucial story of our social and economic history, and does so with recourse to exceptional scholarship.”—Simon Heffer, The Telegraph“Written with great confidence and considerable aplomb, The Coming of the Railway is a must for the train enthusiast.”—Jeremy Black, New Criterion“The iron railway truly made the modern world. . . . [An] authoritative, superbly footnoted account.”—Jack Watkins, Country Life“Even for those who have a library of books on railways this is a good addition. It is strongly recommended.”—Rev Dr Peter Howson, Methodist Recorder"This is the sort of book for which the word 'masterly' was coined.”—Roger Backhouse, Welsh Railways Research Circle“The nineteenth century was defined by the railway. In this compelling new book David Gwyn weaves together the disparate strands that led to its emergence as the singular new technology of its age; a monumental study, erudite, authoritative, and full of wider historical insights.”—Sir Neil Cossons, former director of the Science Museum London“This book is a real eye-opener for rail enthusiasts and scholars with a detailed and well researched account of the dawn of the railways. The rapid advancement in technology in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the railways brought our society is truly astounding.”—Siddy Holloway, historian and presenter“A fresh perspective on the early railway story across time and world space, with a wealth of intriguing details. Gwyn ably demonstrates the role played by overlapping technologies, harmonising under the influence of shaping forces.”—Susan Major, author of Early Victorian Railway Excursions“The railways were the most important invention of the nineteenth century, but they only emerged thanks to a series of technological developments. This book documents these in a thorough and revealing way which makes it essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of this great invention.”—Christian Wolmar, author of The Great Railway Revolution

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Book SynopsisA myth-busting explanation of inflation, the desperate gullibility of central bankers and finance ministers—and our abject failure to learn from historyTrade Review“My kind of inflation book. There is lots of great storytelling, which lightens the subject matter, and makes it accessible to non-experts.”—Moira O’Neill, Financial Times, “Best Summer Books of 2023: Money”“Historically informed and lucid.”—Martin Wolf, Financial Times, “Best Summer Books of 2023: Economics”“Not just a useful and well-written account of inflation for the layman, but a contribution to a debate that is still very much live. A brilliantly clear and concise new history.”—Juliet Samuel, Times (UK)“As with all the best economists, King’s views are grounded in an understanding of our historical experience.”—Roger Bootle, Daily Telegraph“Highly readable and informative. . . . King’s timely book should be essential reading for economic policymakers everywhere.”—Nick Macpherson, Financial Times“[An] excellent and readable new book about the re-emergence of inflation.”—Larry Elliot, The Guardian“A damning critique. . . . King writes lucidly, avoiding the jargon that makes economics impenetrable to the lay reader.”—Edward Chancellor, Times Literary Supplement“[A] lively polemic. . . . King’s view is that getting inflation back down to 2 percent will involve breaking more eggs than the authorities are prepared to acknowledge.”—Howard Davies, Literary Review“A powerful combination of history, current affairs and economic analysis.”—Mohamed A. El-Erian, on Twitter“Equal parts history lesson, policy primer and cri de coeur for index-linked pocket money, We Need to Talk About Inflation makes its subject as engaging as it is urgent—highly recommended for aspiring economists, and actual economists in search of historical perspective.”—Tom Orlik, chief economist for Bloomberg Economics, on Twitter“King makes his case with verve, in the process delineating the pernicious effects of inflation and underscoring the absurdity of thinking it could never reappear in advanced economies.”—Max Harris, Finance & Development“This is a fun book to read and with an important underlying message—central banks are under watch everywhere. How they emerge from this inflation crisis will determine both their reputation worldwide and how they evolve from here.”—Vicky Pryce, Society of Professional Economists“If you have a relative or friend who has kept asking what all this ‘inflation stuff’ is about, consider giving them a copy of this very readable book.” —Michael Reddell, Central Banking “Most of those who have to deal with inflation are too young to remember when it was last a serious issue. This book teaches them what they need to know. King’s lessons command our attention.”—Lawrence H. Summers, former US Treasury Secretary“Everything you wanted to know about inflation but were afraid to ask. This book is timely, well-researched and very well-written.”—Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England“Reading Stephen King over the years has often given me advance notice of the next big economic story. Maybe you don’t think inflation is back for good. That is your right. But you’d be advised to read this book first.”—Stephanie Flanders, head of Economics and Government at Bloomberg

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Book SynopsisA highly readable history of the stock market crash of 1929, and the depression that followed itTrade Reviewa concise, lively study of the Depression * TIME OUT *A lively and readable account of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the worldwide depression that followed * IRISH TIMES *

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Book SynopsisA Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Winner of the Bancroft Prize. "No one has written a better book about a city…Nature's Metropolis is elegant testimony to the proposition that economic, urban, environmental, and business history can be as graceful, powerful, and fascinating as a novel." —Kenneth T. Jackson, Boston GlobeTrade Review"This book is the story of Chicago's progress in the 19th century, the rough seduction of the hinterland, and how at its zenith the city ruled the commercial life of a vast inland region more completely and ruthlessly and profitably than any czar ruled Russia…A marvelous book." -- Ward Just - Chicago Tribune"Thoroughly original…Illuminating…Brilliant." -- Donald L. Miller - New York Times Book Review"No one has ever written a better book about a city…No one has written about Chicago with more power, clarity and intelligence than Cronon." -- Kenneth T. Jackson - Boston Globe"An intoxicating piece of scholarship and enterprise…It is really a work of biography: a look at the life of Chicago." -- David Shribman - Wall Street Journal"Nature's Metropolis is that rare historical work which treats nature and the moral force we derive from it seriously…The roots of the modern environmental predicament are plainly visible in the economic dynamism that brought about the rise of Chicago in the mid-nineteenth century, which is a captivating story in its own right." -- Verlyn Klinkenborg - The New Yorker"Magnificent…the best work of economic and business history I've ever read." -- Paul Krugman"William Cronon challenges many of the conventions of both urban and western history in this pathbreaking book, and does so with unusual intelligence and elegance. More important, he helps lay the groundwork for a vital new field of scholarship: the history of the natural environment and its relationship to human society." -- Alan Brinkley, Columbia University

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Book SynopsisThis major new textbook on business history brings together the expertise of two internationally renowned authors to provide a thorough overview of the developments in business â from just before the industrial revolution right up to the present day.Business History is global in scope and looks at the major players â Europe, the US and Japan â as well as emerging economies, such as China and India. Focusing mainly on âbig businessâ, Amatori and Colli critically analyze âthe firmâ and its interaction with the evolution of economic, technological and political systems at the micro and macro levels. This up-to-date textbook is an exceptional resource for students on economic and business history courses, as well as for practitioners interested in broadening their understanding of business.Trade Review'An ambitious analysis, adding significantly to the business history literature. Business History should feature on every undergraduate and postgraduate reading list for modules covering this subject, as well as many business and management modules.' - John Wilson (University of Liverpool, UK) in Business History‘One of the outstanding features of the book is its ambitious comparative perspective. It can be used as textbook, although it is much more than that. I enthusiastically recommend the book both to scholars and to advanced students, interested in business history, economic development and strategic decision-making.’ - Jordi Catalan, in Revista de Historia Industrial Vol. 49 (2012)Table of ContentsPart 1: Relevant Issues 1. Introduction 2. Business History and Theories of the Firm 3. Entrepreneurship Part 2: The Company Between the Pre-Industrial Era and the First Industrial Revolution 4. Pre-Industrial Manufacturing 5. Enterprises and Entrepreneurs of the First Industrial Revolution 6. Technology, Society and the Factory System Part 3: The Birth and Consolidation of Big Business 7. Infrastructures 8. Technology and Organization 9. National Patterns Part 4: State and Market in the Period between the Two World Wars 10. The Multi-Divisional Corporation and Managerial Capitalism 11. Europe between the Two Wars: Convergence and Divergence with the U.S. 12. At the Origins of the Japanese Miracle: Entrepreneurship, the State and Business Groups Part 5: From the Post-War Years to the Fall of the Wall: The Age of 'Shrinking' Space 13. From World War II to the Third Industrial Revolution 14. American Hegemony and its Aftermath 15. The Soviet Union: The Antagonist 16. Japan: The Challenger 17. Hybrid Europe 18. Different Strategies for 'Catching Up': South Korea and Argentina 19. Multinationals: Quid Novi? Part 6: The Globalization of Today 20. New Forms of Enterprise 21. The 'Roaring Nineties': America is Back 22. Slowing Down: Japan and Europe 23. New Protagonists: China and India 24. A Last Look

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Book SynopsisAccumulation and Power analyses America's economic development across three great waves of economic expansion: the Grand Traverse 1850-1900, the New Era 1916-1929 and the Great Postwar Boom, 1945-1972. Drawing on the work of Keynes, Schumpeter, Marx it departs radically from the new economic history model, focusing instead on capitalist decision making and its social consequences. It argues that the accumulation process is far more important than competitive markets in explaining resource allocation and growth. This innovative book is essential reading for all students and scholars of American economic history.Table of Contents1. The Flow of Economic History: Accumulation, Monopolization, Competition2. Accumulation and the Changing Structure of Business, 1790–18603. The Grand Traverse of the American Economy, 1865–19004. The New Age of Monopolization, 1875–19025. Investment, Growth, and Instability: Oligopoly and the Pursuit of Prosperity, 1900–19296. Investment, Growth, and Instability: The Great Postwar Boom, 1945–19727. Investment, Growth, and Instability: Stagflation and the Corporate Counterattack, 1973–19888. Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment: The Road to Hegemony and Back, 1880–19889. Economic Growth in the Corporate Era: Trends, Triumphs, Paradoxes

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Book SynopsisWhat are the institutions which govern border spaces and how do they impact long-term economic and social development? This book focuses on the Habsburg military frontier zone which originated in the sixteenth century as an instrument for protecting the empire''s southern border against the threat of the Ottoman Empire and which lasted until the 1880s. The book outlines the conditions under which this extractive institution affected development, showing how locals were forced to work as soldiers and exposed to rigid communal property rights, an inflexible labor market, and discrimination when it came to the provision of public infrastructure. While the formal institutions set up during the military colony disappeared, their legacy can be traced in political attitudes and social norms even today with the violence and abuses exercised by the imperial government transformed into distrust in public authorities, limited political involvement, and low social capital.

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Book SynopsisStevens tells the untold story of the search for a moral foundation for capitalism through its leading characters. His historical account reveals the rich moral critique provided by these characters and describes how that moral critique was lost through the influence of the Chicago School and its emphasis on self-interest.Trade Review'If you want a perspective on an enlightened version, possibly the originally envisioned version, of capitalism not fully reduced to its characteristic, though commonly overemphasized and misrepresented, rationale of self-interest, then read this book. By unpacking and reexamining the moral foundations of capitalism, this book will make you reflect on how capitalist societies can serve mutual benefit and achieve social welfare when liberated from its misconceived, fundamentalist clichés of naked self-interest and free markets.' Wim A. Van der Stede, Dean and Professor at London School of Economics'In this excellent description of the development of intellectual ideas on the nature and determinants of our capitalist system, Douglas Stevens provides a wide-ranging, insightful, and accessible account of how we have arrived at the current dilemmas that confront us. His book provides a valuable basis for understanding how the history of economic thought can help guide the formulation of future policy.' Colin Mayer, Emeritus Professor of Management Studies at the Said Business School, and Visiting Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of OxfordTable of Contents1. Introduction: the continuing demand for a moral foundation; 2. The moral economist: Adam Smith; 3. Religion as a moral foundation: Max Weber and R. H. Tawney; 4. Humanism as a moral foundation: Karl Polanyi and John Maynard Keynes; 5. Self-interest as a moral foundation: the Chicago school and Ayn Rand; 6. Neoclassical economists join the search: Vernon Smith and Michael Jensen; 7. Rescuing capitalism from the capitalists: Amartya Sen; 8. The promise of capitalism: joining the search.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a survey of this complex period of European history, covering themes such as the impact of Christianisation, the formation of nations and states, the emergence of an expansionist commercial economy, the Crusades and the intellectual and cultural life of the Middle Ages.Trade ReviewPraise for previous editions'Instructors seeking an alternative to the standard political and institutional narrative found in most medieval history texts will find the new edition of Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers to be a superb choice. With its focus on social groups and cultural movements, the text is also written in a fluid style that will engage students. I look forward to using it in my next medieval history survey.'Edward Tabri, University of Texas at Tyler, USA'Introduction to Medieval Europe provides an excellent overview into the fascinating world of the Middle Ages. It covers issues such as mentalities of men and women as well as giving an insight into the world of medieval politics. Included is a thought-provoking chapter on continuities which provides a new framework for the understanding of a world distant to us both in time and place.'Thomas Småberg, Malmö University, Sweden'This is an extraordinarily wide-ranging introduction, covering Europe in its broadest sense from the British Isles to Turkey. It not only explains the political, intellectual and religious developments that occurred between the late Roman period and the Reformation but it also gives an insight into what life must have been like for most people. An essential first port of call for anyone wishing to understand the Middle Ages.'Jonathan Harris, Royal Holloway University, UK'The particular strength of this new edition of Introduction to Medieval Europe 300–1550 is the authors’ ability to trace the development and transformation over time of large scale social, economic, and religious structures and mentalities. How did pagans become Christians? How did slaves and peasants become serfs? How did armed horsemen become knights? Few if any other textbooks at this level can offer students such a sure guide along the path to understanding how the outlines of medieval society took shape.'Sean Field, University of Vermont, USA'This commendably clear and concise overview of the medieval period should be essential reading for all stu-dents coming to the subject for the first time. The coverage of social, economic and intellectual themes is particularly strong. Readers will appreciate the profusion of maps, diagrams and other illustrations which buttress the text.'Simon Barton, University of Exeter, UK'In their new edition on the Middle Ages, Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers offer a rich, accessible, and valuable resource for students and lecturers of medieval history alike. With its expanded list of tables, figures, illustrations, color maps, primary source boxes, and annotated bibliographies, this revised text is a must-have for anyone interested in the formation of pre-modern Europe. Through a careful re-organization of materials and an extended treatment of the period along sensible thematic and chronological lines, this work will continue to reign among the leading introductory surveys on the medieval world.'Kriston Rennie, University of Queensland, Australia'In the crowded field of historical surveys of medieval Europe, Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers have managed to produce something distinctive and original. Their book gives a clear, well-written overview of the political, social, economic and artistic developments in these important centuries with helpful explanations of technical terms and good suggested further reading. Eastern Europe is given full weight and thoughtful illustrations give valuable insights into a culture more visual than literate. But more than this the authors demon-strate why medieval Europeans deserve to be studied, their influence on later times and different places, how many of our own preoccupations derive from theirs. Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers make the European Middle Ages not just fascinating, but relevant as well.'Andrew Roach, University of Glasgow, UK'This is a work that helps its reader to grasp the defining contours of medieval history, without being subjected to a whirlwind of narrative detail. It is refreshing in its pan-European scope, bringing Lithuania to stand along-side France, and in its effective location of key issues in broader frameworks of change and continuity. Most of all, it treats the alterity of the Middle Ages on its own terms – and explains just what it is that makes under-standing that fundamentally different world quite so interesting and worthwhile.'Stephen Mossman, University of Manchester, UK'Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers' Introduction to Medieval Europe has established itself as the classic survey in English on the Latin West in the Middle Ages. The second edition is even more commendable: the book’s unique European perspective has been improved by situating the Latin West within neighbouring cultures and suggesting new ways of integrating European historiography. This is an indispensable starting point for students, scholars and, indeed, for any audience that wishes to familiarise itself with the essential European dimension of the history of the Latin West between 300 and 1500.'Martial Staub, University of Sheffield, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1 The early Middle Ages, 300–1000 1. The end of the Roman Empire in the West 2. The establishment of two world religions: Christianity and Islam 3. The powerful and the poor: society and economy in the Frankish kingdoms and beyond Part 2: The Central Middle Ages, 1000-1300 4. Early kingdoms and principalities 5. Accelerated growth 6. Religious reform and renewal Part 3: Expansion and maturation, 1000-1500 7. The beginnings of European expansion 8. Thinking about man and the world 9. Towns and the urbanisation of medieval society Part 4: The Late Middle Ages, 1300-1500 10. Between crisis and contraction: population, economy and society 11. The consolidation of states 12. Crisis in the Church and the reorientation of the faithful Epilogue

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Book SynopsisThis thoroughly-revised second edition of Dynamics of International Business provides an in-depth comparative historical analysis of the structural and strategic evolution of international enterprises.Drawing on extensive research, this textbook situates the ostensibly modern phenomena of multinational corporations and economic globalisation within an established and complex history of international enterprises and cross-border business activity. Students will develop a deeper understanding of the global economy and the core forces that have shaped it over time. The bookâs structure has been enhanced for this new edition: it is now divided into seven sections representing specific phases of the global economyâs history, each one consisting of two chapters that comprehensively cover the eraâs âmacroâ framework and its âmicroâ structures respectively. Theoretical paradigms that commonly feature in international business scholarship are also contextualised within the historical eras they emerged from, thus enabling readers to critically engage with and apply these theories. New material has been added throughout, especially regarding current geopolitical tensions threatening to disrupt and even reverse recent globalisation trends in the global economy. Finally, this edition also includes updated case studies based on a diverse range of industries and countries that will complement learning.An essential textbook for economic and business history courses; students and scholars of international business will also find it to be a useful and highly-accessible resource.

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Book SynopsisAlmost no one knew what a potato was in 1500. Today everyone eats them. This book traces the global journey of this popular foodstuff from the Andes to everywhere. En route it helps explain why we feel so ambivalent about governmental dietary guidelines and celebrates the contributions of ordinary people to shaping how we eat.Trade Review'In following the global travels of the peripatetic potato, Earle brilliantly illuminates both the origins of dietary advice that promised the key to happiness and the everyday ingenuity of farmers and cooks who really do feed the people.' Jeffrey M. Pilcher, author of Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food'If they're delicious when you choose to eat them, but penitentially bland when you're told you have to, you may be eating potatoes, which, as Rebecca Earle argues in her brilliant study of the shape-shifting tubers, provided the first taste of the tension between personal freedom and public well-being within the modern state.' Joyce E. Chaplin, author of The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius'Potatoes have inspired great books and great recipes. Rebecca Earle describes some unalluring dishes, but her history - cultural, culinary, social, political, and environmental - is the cream of the crop: for coverage, scholarship, breadth and depth of erudition, vividness in exemplification, and fluency in writing no previous work can touch it.' Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, author of Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It'Feeding the People should be on the menu for anyone interested in the story behind their food.' Orlando Bird, Daily Telegraph'A fascinating book … (Earle) writes with clarity and grace.' Gerard DeGroot, The Times'Earle's surprisingly rich history of the potato is about a carbohydrate whose spread around the world didn't just power the people, but was the source of considerable people power.' Oliver Wiseman, The Critic'This passionately written book … is a rich, creative, and brilliant analysis of an absolutely not-banal foodstuff, proving once more the relevance of food for l'histoire totale.' Peter Scholliers, Agricultural History'… excellent … the book is engaging and well organized … an excellent addition to any food related history text.' Mike Timonin, Global Maritime History'This is a rich, creative, and brilliant analysis of an absolutely not-banal foodstuff, proving once more the relevance of food for l'histoire totale.' Peter Scholliers, Agricultural History'Feeding the People is a joy to read. It is clearly written in engaging prose, but more importantly, it significantly challenges long-held historiographies about the potato in European history. … I recommend this book for a variety of audiences, both scholarly and general. For casual readers, Earle provides a short and interesting history of the potato's romp through the modern world. Scholars will be intrigued by her upending of established theories about potatoes and her focus on bottom-up social history as well as high-level philosophical and political debates. It is impossible for any reader to come away from the book without having gained a new appreciation of how the lowly potato transformed the world.' Tammy M. Proctor, Food & HistoryTable of ContentsList of figures; List of recipes; List of abbreviations; Introduction. Pouring ourselves a large gin; 1. Immigrant potatoes; 2. Enlightened potatoes; 3. Free-market potatoes; 4. Global potatoes; 5. Capitalist potatoes; 6. Security potatoes; Conclusions. Parmentier, peasants and personal responsibility; Acknowledgements; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisA Must-Read for Any Investor Looking to Maximize Their Chances of Success Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments explores the ways in which the biggest names have failed, and reveals the lessons learned that shaped more successful strategies going forward. Investing can be a rollercoaster of highs and lows, and the investors detailed here show just how low it can go; stories from Warren Buffet, Bill Ackman, Chris Sacca, Jack Bogle, Mark Twain, John Maynard Keynes, and many more illustrate the simple but overlooked concept that investing is really hard, whether you''re managing a few thousand dollars or a few billion, failures and losses are part of the game. Much more than just anecdotal diversion, these stories set the basis for the book''s critical focus: learning from mistakes. These investors all recovered from their missteps, and moved forward armed with a wealth of knowledge than can only come from experience. Lessons learned through failure

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Book SynopsisSince its first publication over forty years ago Marshall Sahlins''s Stone Age Economics has established itself as a classic of modern anthropology and arguably one of the founding works of anthropological economics. Ambitiously tackling the nature of economic life and how to study it comparatively, Sahlins radically revises traditional views of the hunter-gatherer and so-called primitive societies, revealing them to be the original affluent society. Sahlins examines notions of production, distribution and exchange in early communities and examines the link between economics and cultural and social factors. A radical study of tribal economies, domestic production for livelihood, and of the submission of domestic production to the material and political demands of society at large, Stone Age Economics regards the economy as a category of culture rather than behaviour, in a class with politics and religion rather than rationality or prudencTrade Review"Sahlins’ forays into economic anthropology are full of interest." Cyril S. Belshaw, American Anthropologist"Stone Age Economics, while not a survey of the economic anthropology, is as of now the most sophisticated, extensive presentation, and argument in and about, the field." Walter C. Neale, Science"This book is subversive to so many of the fundamental assumptions of Western technological society that it is a wonder it was permitted to be published. Calling on extensive research among the planet's remaining stone-age societies—in Africa, Australia and South-East Asia as well as anecdotal reports from early explorers, Professor Sahlins directly challenges the idea that Western civilization has provided greater 'leisure' or 'affluence,' or even greater reliability, than 'primitive' hunter-gatherers." Whole Earth Review"His book is rich in factual evidence and in ideas, so rich that a brief review cannot do it justice; only another book could do that." E. Evans-Pritchard, Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsForeword to the Routledge Classics Edition (David Graeber) Introduction 1. The Original Affluent Society 2. The Domestic Mode of Production: The Structure of Underproduction 3. The Domestic Mode or Production: Intensification of Production 4. The Spirit of the Gift 5. On the Sociology of Primitive Exchange 6. Exchange Value and the Diplomacy of Primitive Trade

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Book SynopsisOne striking weaknesses of our financial architecture, which helped bring on and perhaps deepen the Panic of 2008, is an inadequate appreciation of the past. Information about how the system functioned and the reliability of organizations and institutional controls were drawn from a relatively narrow group of recent examples. History and Financial Crisis: Lessons from the 20th Century is an attempt to broaden the range of historical sources used by policy makers to understand and treat financial crises. Many recent discussions of the 2008 panic and the economic turmoil have found the situation to either be unprecedented or greatly similar to that of 1931. However, the book''s wide range of contributors suggest that the economic crisis of 2008 cannot be categorised in this way. This book was originally published as a special issue of Business History.Table of Contents1. The ‘2008 Crisis’ in an economic history perspective: Looking at the twentieth century Christopher Kobrak and Mira Wilkins 2. Financial crisis, contagion, and the British banking system between the world wars Mark Billings and Forrest Capie 3. New perspectives on the 1931 banking crisis in Germany and Central Europe Christopher Kopper 4. Banks and Swedish financial crises in the 1920s and 1930s Mikael Lönnborg, Anders Ögren and Michael Rafferty 5. Canada and the United States: Different roots, different routes to financial sector regulation Donald J.S. Brean, Lawrence Kryzanowski and Gordon S. Roberts 6. The effect of banking crises on deposit growth: State-level evidence from 1900 to 1930 Carlos D. Ramirez 7. Concluding Thoughts on the Use and Abuse of Financial History: Panics and Public Policy Christopher Kobrak

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Book SynopsisIn this accessible new study, Toby Lincoln offers the first history of Chinese cities from their origins to the present. Despite being an agricultural society for thousands of years, China had an imperial urban civilization. Over the last century, this urban civilization has been transformed into the world''s largest modern urban society. Throughout their long history, Chinese cities have been shaped by interactions with those around the world, and the story of urban China is a crucial part of the history of how the world has become an urban society. Exploring the global connections of Chinese cities, the urban system, urban governance, and daily life alongside introductions to major historical debates and extracts from primary sources, this is essential reading for all those interested in China and in urban history.Trade Review'A well-written and much-needed overview of China's 2000-year urban history connecting local developments and international influences. Exploring the complex intersection of urban system, form and governance, urban culture and daily life, Toby Lincoln's comprehensive study of Chinese cities is an important addition to the growing field of global urban history.' Carola Hein, Delft University of Technology'Lincoln captures China's urban history in rich detail, including changes in conceptions of cities, urban form, and urban life over the centuries. Enlivened with excerpts from fiction and memoirs, this book is both a sweeping historical overview and a great introduction to scholarship on Chinese cities past and present.' Kristin Stapleton, University at Buffalo, SUNY'A good teaching text both reviews and engages with the literature … the author whets the reader's appetite for more, which is exactly what an introductory academic text should do.' Michael Hebbert, The China Quarterly'It is a fascinating read, entertaining a new perspective on the course of Chinese history … Highly recommended.' Q. E. Wang, Choice Connect'Lincoln's textbook is an extremely useful tool … I admire how Lincoln foregrounds the historical legacies of administrative central-ization, economic interconnection, and cultural production in China today while still conveying the many transformations of Chinese urban forms.' Chuck Wooldridge, Journal of Chinese HistoryTable of Contents1. Introduction; 2. The emergence of China's imperial urban civilization (antiquity to 220 CE); 3. Expansion of China's imperial urban civilization to the south (220–755); 4. The Tang-Song transition and its effects on China's imperial urban civilization (907–1402); 5. The flowering of Chinese imperial urban civilization (1402–1799); 6. The seeds of urban modernity (1800–1895); 7. Urban modernity in Republican China (1895–1949); 8. The Maoist period (1949–1976); 9. The Reform Era and the present; 10. Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisEconomics drives the modern world and shapes our lives, but few of us feel we have time to engage with the breadth of ideas in the subject. 50 Economics Classics is the smart person''s guide to two centuries of discussion of finance, capitalism and the global economy. From Adam Smith''s Wealth of Nations to Thomas Piketty''s bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century, here are the great reads, seminal ideas and famous texts, clarified and illuminated for all.The revised edition will: include 5-6 new titles addressing some more up to date areas of the subject such as The Bitcoin Standard, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and Discrimination and Disparities have a revised introduction to reflect on the current turbulence and challenges facing the global economy over the next decade have some of the less relevant titles removed''Something of a modern classic in its own right.

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Book SynopsisThe true, unvarnished history of the town at the heart of Silicon Valley.Palo Alto is nice. The weather is temperate, the people are educated, rich, healthy, enterprising. Remnants of a hippie counterculture have synthesized with high technology and big finance to produce the spiritually and materially ambitious heart of Silicon Valley, whose products are changing how we do everything from driving around to eating food. It is also a haunted toxic waste dump built on stolen Indian burial grounds, and an integral part of the capitalist world system. In Palo Alto, the first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular, consequential way it did, tracing the ideologies, technologies, and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism, from IQ tests to the "tragedy of the commons," racial genetics, and "broken windows" theory. The Internet and computers, too. It's a story about how a small American suburb became a powerful engine for economic growth and war, and how it came to lead the world into a surprisingly disastrous 21st century.Palo Alto is an urgent and visionary history of the way we live now, one that ends with a clear-eyed, radical proposition for how we might begin to change course.Trade ReviewHarris's earlier book Kids These Days was a broad cultural history of millennials, zeroing in on the unfair economic stereotypes that have dogged the generation. Now, he tells an ambitious story of Silicon Valley, showing how its specific culture and history allowed it to become the site of both breathtaking technological advancement and capitalist exploitation. * Joumana Khatib, NEW YORK TIMES *Unsparing... Its narrative has the intoxifying capitalist rush of The Lehman Trilogy... Uneasily compelling * The Spectator *Cathartic and illuminating... readers will leave this book gifted with a trove of information, a lurch in their stomach, and a sense of foreboding about the future * Irish Independent *

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Book SynopsisThe dramatic inside story of the most important case in the history of sovereign debt law Unlike individuals or corporations that become insolvent, nations do not have access to bankruptcy protection from their creditors. When a country defaults on its debt, the international financial system is ill equipped to manage the crisis. Decisions by key individuals—from national leaders to those at the International Monetary Fund, from holdout creditors to judges—determine the fate of an entire national economy. A prime example is Argentina’s 2001 default on $100 billion in bonds, which stands out for its messy outcomes and outsized impact on sovereign debt markets, sovereign debt law, and IMF policy. Default is the riveting story of Argentina’s sovereign debt drama, which reveals the obscure inner workings of sovereign debt restructuring. This detailed case study describes the intense fight over the role of the IMF in Argentina’s 2005 debt restructuring and the ensuing bitter decade of litigation with holdout creditors, demonstrating that outcomes for sovereign debt are determined by a complex interplay between financial markets, governments, the IMF, the press, and the courts. This cautionary tale lays bare the institutional, political, and legal pressures that come into play when a country cannot repay its debts. It offers a deeper understanding of how global financial capitalism functions for those who work in or study debt markets, international finance, international relations, and international law.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction1 Argentina Defaults Then Fights with the IMF (December 2001–March 2003)2 The Three-Way War: Argentina Battles with Creditors and the IMF over the Debt Deal (January 2003–April 2004)3 Kirchner's Triumph: Argentina's 2005 Debt Restructuring (April 2004–June 2005)4 Backstory: Elliot's War on Peru (1996–2000)5 Raid on the Argentine Central Bank (December 2005–January 2007)6 All Plaintiffs Big and Small (June 2005–December 2009)7 Turning Point (2010)8 Equal Treatment (October 2010–May 2014)9 Argentina's Economic Stumbles and Elliott's Worldwide War (October 2010–June 2014)10 It All Falls Apart (June 2014–November 2015)11 The Settlement (December 2015–April 2016)EpilogueConclusion AcknowledgmentsAppendix A: Featured CharactersAppendix B: Timeline of EventsGlossaryNote on SourcesNotesAbout the Author

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Book SynopsisThe first book that acknowledges cameralism as a European rather than just a German historical phenomenon. This book discusses the impact of cameralism on the practices of governance, early modern state-building and economy in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe. It argues that the cameralist conception of state and economy - aform of 'science' of government dedicated to reforming society while promoting economic development, and often associated mainly with Prussia - had significant impact far beyond Germany and Austria. In fact, its influence spread into Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Portugal, Northern Italy and other parts of Europe. In this volume, an international set of experts discusses administrative practices and policies in relation to population, forestry, proto-industry,trade, mining affairs, education, police regulation, and insurance. The book will appeal to early modernists, economic historians and historians of economic thought. MARTEN SEPPEL is Associate Professor of Early ModernHistory at the University of Tartu, Estonia. He holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge. KEITH TRIBE has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and taught at the University of Keele (UK) from 1976 to 2002, retiring as Reader in Economics. He is now working as a highly regarded professional translator and independent scholar. Forthcoming work includes a new translation of Max Weber, Economy and Society Part One (Harvard University Press, 2018). His publications include Strategies of Economic Order (CUP, 1995/2007); The Economy of the Word. Language, History, and Economics (OUP, 2015); and (edited with Pat Hudson) The Contradictions of Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Agenda, 2016). Contributors: ROGER BARTLETT, ALEXANDRE MENDES CUNHA, HANS FRAMBACH, GUILLAUME GARNER, LARS MAGNUSSON, INGRID MARKUSSEN, FRANK OBERHOLZNER, GÖRAN RYDÉN, MARTEN SEPPEL, KEITH TRIBE, PAUL WARDETrade ReviewThis erudite collection is a welcome addition to the admittedly sparse literature on the 'cameral sciences' that emerged in late-17th-century Germany. Recommended. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Cameralism in Practice - Marten Seppel Comparing Cameralisms - the Case of Sweden and Prussia - Lars Magnusson Baltic Cameralism? - Keith Tribe Cameralism in Russia: Empress Catherine II and Population Policy - Roger Bartlett Cameralist Population Policy and the Problem of Serfdom, 1680-1720 - Marten Seppel Cameralist Writing in the Mirror of Practice: the Long Development of Forestry in Germany - Paul Warde Cameralist Theoretical Writings on Manufacturing and Administrative Practice in the German Principalities: Conflict and Coherence - Guillaume Garner Administrative Centralisation, Police Regulations and Mining Sciences as Channels for the Dissemination of Cameralist Ideas in the Iberian World - Alexandre Mendes Cunha Balancing the Divine with the Private. The Practices of Hushållning in Eighteenth-Century Sweden - Göran Rydén Johan Ludvig Reventlow's Master Plan at the Brahetrolleborg Estate: Cameralism in Denmark in the 1780s and 1790s - Ingrid Markussen 'Maasreguln wider die Unglücksfaelle' - Cameralism and its Influence on the Establishment of Insurance Schemes - Frank Oberholzner The Decline of Cameralism in Germany at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century - Hans Frambach Concluding Remarks - Keith Tribe Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAn engagingly written account of textile engineering in its key northern centres, rich with historical narrative and analysis. The engineers who built the first generations of modern textile machines, between 1770 and 1850, pushed at the boundaries of possibility. This book investigates these pioneering machine-makers, almost all working within textile communities in northern England, and the industry they created. It probes their origins and skills, the sources of their inspiration and impetus, and how it was possible to develop a high-tech, factory-centred, world-leading marketin textile machinery virtually from scratch. The story of textile engineering defies classical assumptions about the driving forces behind the Industrial Revolution. The circumstances of its birth, and the personal affiliationsat work during periods of exceptional creativity, suggest that the potential to accelerate economic growth could be found within social assets and craft skills. Appreciating textile engineering within its own time and context challenges views inherited from Victorian thinkers, who tended to ascribe to it features of the fully fledged industry they saw before them. The Age of Machinery is an engagingly written account of the trade in its key northern centres, devoid of jargon and yet tightly argued, equally rich with historical narrative and analysis. It will be invaluable not only to students and scholars of British economic history and the Industrial Revolution but also tosocial scientists looking at human agency and its contribution to economic growth and innovation. GILLIAN COOKSON holds a DPhil in economic history and has been employed since 1995 in academic research and consultancy,including as county editor, Victoria County History of Durham.Trade ReviewUnbelievably good value. -- LOCAL HISTORIANA masterly account of the early northern textile machine makers, their origins, social networks, skills and the influence they had on the emergent factory movement. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *This engaging, erudite study investigates the firms and people who made the machines of the Industrial Revolution. * TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE *A brilliant account. * ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW *A very important book on the origins of the English Industrial Revolution. ... Rich and insightful. * BUSINESS HISTORY *This is a rich, extremely well-researched and well-argued book that sheds valuable light on the evolution of textile machine technology during the British Industrial Revolution. * JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES *Cookson's account is dense and carefully argued, but it is also rich and engaging, addressing issues of fundamental significance for processes of technological advance and economic growth. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Coming of Machinery The Age of Machinery Shaping an Industry The Machine-makers Ingenious Mechanics The Social Life of the Engineer Innovating Reaching Maturity Appendix 1: Keighley textile engineers Appendix 2: Leeds engineering businesses established before 1830 Appendix 3: Estimates of textile machinery at work in the United Kingdom, 1835-56 Bibliography

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Book SynopsisThis book surveys the economy of Wales from the first Norman intrusions of 1067 to the Act of Union of England and Wales in 1536. Key themes include the evolution of the agrarian economy; the foundation and growth of towns; the adoption of a money economy; English colonization and economic exploitation; the collapse of Welsh social structures and rise of economic individualism; the disastrous effect of the Glyndwr rebellion; and, ultimately, the alignment of the Welsh economy to the English economy. Comprising four chapters, a narrative history is presented of the economic history of Wales, 1067-1536, and the final chapter tests the applicability in a Welsh context of the main theoretical frameworks that have been developed to explain long-term economic and social change in medieval Britain and Europe.Table of ContentsPreface Abbreviations Maps Introduction 1 Early History, Conquest and Colonisation, 1067-1315 2 The Medieval Economy at its Apex, 1282-1348 3 Crises and Restructuring, 1315-1536 4 Modelling the Economy of Medieval Wales Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNo one grows up dreaming of becoming an economist. Until the late nineteenth century, economics couldn't even be studied at university and was the preserve of polymathic figures whose radical curiosity drew them to an evolving discipline that was little understood and often derided. Each of the thirteen chapters of this book tells the story of just such a figure. Each of their extraordinary lives is worthy of fiction, and the manner of their deaths, oddly, often illuminates their work. In the Long Run We're All Dead shows us how these economists developed the theories for which they became famous, even if, tragically, much too late for them to enjoy their fame. And these often-complex ideas - of Utilitarianism, of Social Costs, of the Endowment Effect, to name just a few - are explained here with reference to the lives of their creators in a style that is engaging, irreverent, and comic. Though Frank tells us about these lives is true, this is also a book of imaginative speculation that considers how economist's principles might be applied to problems of today and of the future. 'In the long run', said John Maynard Keynes, 'we are all dead.' A blandly straightforward statement but one, when uttered by perhaps the greatest economist of the twentieth century, intriguingly gnomic too. Keynes is but one of the eccentrics, radical, unconventional, and often revolutionary thinkers who lives Frank entertainingly recounts.Trade Review‘This is a fascinating, readable, and quirky set of mini-biographies of some leading, and more obscure economists, united in having interesting lives and deaths. [Frank] manages to tell us something new about Keynes, List, Schumpeter and Thunen; and introduces us to the innovative Schmolder, the Nazi economist Stackelberg, the brave Soviet agricultural economist Chayanov and Richard Cantillon whose sophisticated monetary economics dates from three hundred years ago.’ Vince Cable; ‘This is a gem of a book. Engaging and short biographies of famous and not so famous economists whose death can illuminate their life and work. Full of economic insights explained in plain prose that will appeal to anyone interested in the dismal science. A thoroughly enjoyable read.’ Dr Toke Aidt, University of Cambridge; ‘Björn Frank has written an ingenious and darkly humorous set of portraits of seminal economic thinkers. Weaving together ideas and biography, he includes stories of economists who have been neglected in the English-speaking world while finding a fresh take on the well-known giants. Elegant, original and highly entertaining.’ Niall Kishtainy, author of A Little History of Economics; ‘By using their death as a lens through which to examine their lives, Björn Frank has created a novel, entertaining, and informative way to introduce readers to the work of almost twenty economists from the past two centuries. This compact work melds economic analysis with biography to shed new light on some of the discipline’s most influential research and theories. While several famous figures appear – Keynes, Marx, Coase – the book also includes many who will be new to non-economists. Newly-published from the German, In the Long Run We’re All Dead also has the merit of bringing to people’s attention several of that country’s economists whose reputation has undeservedly faded over time.’ Phil Thornton, author of The Great Economists: Ten Economists Whose Thinking Changed the Way We Live; A good dozen elegant and entertaining miniatures. (...) Bjoern Frank uses a pointed, ironic pen and has a loving eye for bizarre or even tragi-comic details - CATHERINE NEWMARK, DEUTSCHLANDFUNK KULTUR; It's entertaining and enlightening NZZ STORY

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Book Synopsis Economists broadly define financial asset price bubbles as episodes in which prices rise with notable rapidity and depart from historically established asset valuation multiples and relationships. Financial economists have for decades attempted to study and interpret bubbles through the prisms of rational expectations, efficient markets, equilibrium, arbitrage, and capital asset pricing models, but they have not made much if any progress toward a consistent and reliable theory that explains how and why bubbles (and crashes) evolve and are defined, measured, and compared. This book develops a new and different approach that is based on the central notion that bubbles and crashes reflect urgent short-side rationing, which means that, as such extreme conditions unfold, considerations of quantities owned or not owned begin to displace considerations of price.Table of ContentsPart I- Background1. Introduction2. Bubble Stories3. Crash Stories 4. Money and Credit FeaturesPart II- Theories Past5. Random Walks6. Rationality Rules7. Behavioral BeatsPart III- Theories Present and Future8. Bubble Dynamics9. Behavioral Risk Features10. Estimating and ForecastingPart IV- Round Up11. Financial Asset Bubble Theory

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Book SynopsisThe unlikely beginnings of the East India Company—from Tudor origins and rivalry with the superior Dutch—to laying the groundwork for future British expansionTrade Review“Howarth tells some hair-raising tales from the maiden voyage of the Company ship Peppercorn. . . . Packed with tales, as well as gruesome accounts of clashes between rival traders in the east.”—Dan Jones, Times (UK) “Adventurers is essential reading.”—Dan Jones, Times (UK)“[Adventurers] details the early years of what would become the world’s biggest corporation…By no means a defence of the empire, this dizzying work makes its emergence all the more remarkable.”—Daniel Brooks, Sunday Telegraph“The writer can glide from Jahangir’s memoirs and Mughal miniatures to the gossipy asides of Spanish spies, the travel tales of Richard Hakluyt and Samuel Purchas, the letters and journals of Roe.”—David Arnold, Times Literary Supplement“Howarth’s study [is] quite different from its rivals, and overflowing with surprises.”—William Dalrymple, The Spectator“This is a book [Howarth] has wanted to write for 50 years. . . . The frequent exuberance of his prose echo[es] the voices of larger-than-life venturers and seafarers who fill his pages.”—Alan Mallinson, Country Life“Adventurers is an important counterpoint to received knowledge of Anglo-Indian history, and the foundations of what was perhaps the world’s first and most controversial corporation.”—Lubaaba Al-Azami, BBC History Magazine“Howarth’s book is a joy of revelation, page by page. . . . Beautifully written.”—Robert Lyman, The Critic“I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there might be a further volume. . . . Perhaps Howarth, like those first Adventurers, will have the right amount of intrepid bravery and insanity to attempt it.”—Debbie Kilroy, Get History“Drawing on an abundance of sources . . . indicative of deep research and of scholarship. . . . Howarth brings to life the Company’s way of doing business.“—Seagull: Journal of the Indian Maritime Foundation“This is a fascinating book, rich in texture, beautifully written, and covering a broad sweep of history. Strongly recommended.”—Richard Morgan, Chowkidar: The BACSA Journal“The history of the East India Company is so often read backwards. This wonderfully well-written book restores its early development to its true context—it is, like cold water in a desert, the picture for which we’ve gasped.”—James Evans, author of Merchant Adventurers“Fascinating and authoritative. David Howarth weaves a rich and rewarding tapestry of the uncertain, often chaotic development of the company, moving with style from London to Southeast Asia, and amassing a colourful cast list of princes, merchants and politicians. Adventurers will become the standard book on the subject, and deservedly so.”—Jerry Brotton, author of This Orient Isle“Howarth’s keen eye for intrigue weaves together a tale of commercial competition and imperial ambition that carries us from the Tudor court to the coasts of Japan. Adventurers is a quick-paced romp through the chaotic early history of Britain’s most infamous corporation.”—Edmond Smith, author of Merchants“Pragmatic, ruthless, and chaotic in turn, the early English East India Company is revealed in all its baroque extravagances in this superb and necessary new history.”—Nandini Das, author of Courting India

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Book Synopsis'The most important book to read about the AI boom' (Wired): The 'gripping' (New Yorker) true story of the first time machines came for human jobs—and how the Luddite uprising explains the power, threat, and toll of big tech and AI today Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker, Wired, and the Financial Times • A Next Big Idea Book Club 'Must-Read' The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to erase their livelihoods. The Luddites organized guerrilla raids to smash those machines—on punishment of death—and won the support of Lord Byron, enraged the Prince Regent, and inspired the birth of science fiction. This all-but-forgotten class struggle brought ninetee

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWarren Buffett has talked extensively about his investment philosophy but unfortunately less so on actual investments. By digging up long forgotten annual reports and sharing his own thoughtful insights, Yefei Lu does an excellent job of filling in the missing pieces of the puzzle in understanding how Buffett invests. -- Robert Vinall, CEO, RV CapitalIn the crowded market for books about Warren Buffett, portfolio manager Yefei Lu has written a uniquely valuable, information-packed volume. This instant classic analyzes twenty of Buffett's most notable investments, starting in 1958 and continuing through to today. A must read! -- John Mihaljevic, publisher, The Manual of IdeasA simple and useful analysis of Warren Buffett's twenty key investments over the course of his fifty-plus-years career. Lu has done a great job in illustrating the key factors that Buffett paid attention to in assessing the risk-reward profile of each investment. There are many lessons to be learned in this book for anyone interested in long-term investing. -- John Elkann, Chairman and CEO, Exor S.p.A.Yefei Lu does us all a great favor in making it so easy to follow him as he looks back at the key investments Buffett made throughout his career. Lu provides his own analysis of what Buffett would have seen, and invites us to sit in Buffett's shoes ourselves by providing as much primary source information as possible—a monumental research effort by any measure. One even has the feeling of reaching certain critical investment insights, right alongside Buffett, that greatly influenced his development as an investor. -- Joel Cohen, MIT Investment Management CompanyFor serious investors and analysts eager to transcend the cult of personality around Buffett and discern what actually makes him great, this study comes highly recommended. * Publishers Weekly *Recommended for any investor or student seeking financial expertise. * Library Journal *[Inside the Investments of Warren Buffett] provide[s] great insights into deep value investing. * Seeking Alpha *By examining twenty of Warren Buffett's investments over a fifty-year period from 1960 through 2011, Yefei Lu discusses Buffett's likely analysis of each one and the lessons to be learned from them. Inside the Investments of Warren Buffett should appeal to value investors and those wanting to benefit from Buffett's investment experience. -- M. Ali Khan, Abram Hutzler Professor of Political Economy, Johns Hopkins Universityuniquely valuable, information-packed volume.... By digging up long forgotten annual reports and sharing his own thoughtful insights, Yefei Lu does an excellent job filling in the missing pieces of the puzzle in understanding how Buffest invests. * Value Walk *The most detailed analysis to date of Buffett's long-term investment portfolio. * Value Walk *Lu's work is a must-have for anyone teaching or studying finance. Even if you have a shelf full of books about Warren Buffett and his investing style, this is an excellent edition.... Essential. * CHOICE *This is a well-written book based on foundational planning, research on the 20 companies presented, and good preparation. * Biz India *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: The Partnership Years (1957-1968)1. 1958: Sanborn Map Company2. 1961: Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company3. 1964: Texas National Petroleum Company4. 1964: American Express5. 1965: Berkshire HathawayPart II: The Middle Years (1968-1990)6. 1967: National Indemnity7. 1972: See's Candies8. 1973: The Washington Post9. 1976: GEICO10. 1977: The Buffalo Evening News11. 1983: Nebraska Furniture Mart12. 1985: Capital Cities/ABC13. 1987: Salomon Inc.—Preferred Stock Investments14. 1988: Coca-ColaPart III: The Late Years (1990-2011)15. 1989: US Air Group16. 1990: Wells Fargo17. 1998: General Re18. 1999: MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company19. 2007-2009: Burlington Northern20. 2011: IBMPart IV: Lessons Learned21. Evolution of Buffett's Investment Strategy22. What We Can Learn from BuffettAppendix AAppendix BNotesSelected BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“[A] singular and substantive contribution to the study of the dematerialization of art in a moment when both the capitalist world and its enemies were at a point of inflection, much as we are now.”—Marina Vishmidt, caa.reviews“Artist as Economist, in its exemplary equilibrium of specificity and breadth, is one of a number of recent publications that suggest the persistent virtue of thinking between and across contexts, not least when analysing the relationship between capitalism and culture.”—Niko Vicario, Art History“The Artist as Economist makes a vital contribution to the study of 1960s art, offering fascinating insights into the complex intersection of art and money, in all its material as well as abstract forms.”—Jo Applin, author of Lee Lozano: Not Working

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Book SynopsisTraversing 2,500 years of global history, Ulbe Bosma shows how sugar, once a luxury reserved for Eastern emperors, stoked a mania in the West, transforming diets and ecosystems, destroying and creating cultures, and shaping the history of bondage and freedom. A major source of calories only since 1900, sugar has suddenly revolutionized our world.Trade ReviewA tour de force of global history…Bosma has turned the humble sugar crystal into a mighty prism for understanding aspects of global history and the world in which we live. -- Dinyar Patel * Los Angeles Review of Books *The World of Sugar shows the globalized tangle of interests that capitalism creates among consumers, producers, investors, labor, national governments, and transnational organizations…Sugar offers a bitter reminder of the enduring tensions between the complexity of national interests and the interests of capital. -- Bronwen Everill * Foreign Policy *One of the most accomplished longue durée case studies in the history of capitalism that we have, concerned not just with trade and consumption but with production also. At every turn it subverts both critiques and celebrations of capitalism, and our understanding of much else besides. It is an extraordinary achievement. -- David Edgerton * Literary Review *Sugar’s societal dominance is a recent development…Its history is both a story of progress and a bittersweet tale of ‘exploitation, racism, obesity, and environmental destruction’…[An] authoritative, highly readable study—the first to be truly global. -- Andrew Robinson * Nature *Bosma lucidly depicts how a commodity that is challenging to cultivate and devoid of nutritional value was central to the development of European imperialism, transatlantic slavery, the Industrial Revolution, economic protectionism, and the postcolonial politics and environmental degradation of the Global South. Bosma’s wide-ranging accounting is full of eye-opening insights…This is a comprehensive and alarming look at how one commodity changed the world. * Publishers Weekly *Bosma revisits the technical innovations, economic arrangements, and pains of a world submitting to the joy and addictiveness of sugar. His insights into the present are all the more resounding. -- Julien Damon * L'Express *Bosma traces how sugar has fundamentally ‘changed how we feed ourselves’…The ubiquity of sugar, writes Bosma, tells us about progress but also reveals a darker story of human exploitation. -- Sudipta Datta * The Hindu *Takes you on a journey of discovery—the journey of sugar itself, which has gone from relative obscurity to becoming an indispensable part of modern diet, causing untold harm in the process. * BooksFirst *Covers the history of the sweet stuff, first produced in granulated form in the 6th century BC, but not a huge commodity until more than two millennia later. This is…a reckoning with sugar. -- Sophie Roell * Five Books *A comprehensive 2,500-year examination of sugar’s history and its profound impact on society and the environment. Ulbe Bosma traces sugar’s journey from a luxury good in ancient India to a ubiquitous ingredient in our diets today, underscoring its role in fostering health issues and environmental crises. Bosma highlights how sugar has altered cultures and shaped political policies, laying bare the significant risks this commonplace commodity poses. * Food Tank *Ulbe Bosma’s history of sugar is also a case study of global capitalism over the centuries, colonial wars, and the deadly slave trade that made the industry possible…An interesting account of how sugar seeped into the global digestive system. -- Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll * Sydney Morning Herald *An important new contribution to the literature on the history of sugar. Many of the shadows of sugar are dark, they spread over the entire world, and they are very, very, long. -- Robert Ackrill * H-Diplo *The world history of sugar and the world history of capitalism are tightly linked to one another. Ulbe Bosma, in this first truly global account of a most crucial commodity, takes us to the fields of Indian peasants, the countinghouses of Chinese merchants, the monopolizing efforts of New York industrialists, and the rebellions of enslaved sugar workers in Cuba to chart how something as mundane as sugar came to play a crucial role in the making of the world we inhabit today. Attentive to local specificities as much as to Earth-spanning connections, to culture and capital, power and poverty, this book is global history at its best. -- Sven Beckert, author of Empire of Cotton: A Global HistorySugar may play a unique role in the slow-motion tragedy that is the worldwide epidemic of obesity and diabetes. The World of Sugar is a remarkably researched, comprehensive, and indispensable book for everyone who wishes to understand how sugar and the sugar industry have shaped the world in which we live. -- Gary Taubes, author of The Case Against SugarHow is it that a chemical that has no nutritional value, that is inherently poisonous, that is responsible for morbidity and mortality, and that is breaking the health care budget of every developed and developing country is the seminal thread running through human history for the last 3,000 years? The World of Sugar narrates the critical events that made sugar the dominant force in world politics from antiquity to our own era. In this magisterial history, Bosma offers a much-needed cautionary tale about how addiction leads to societal downfall. As we watch newer addictions destroy the climate and Earth’s inhabitants, we would all do well to learn the hard lessons of sugar. -- Robert Lustig, author of Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern MedicineThe World of Sugar is compelling, deeply researched, and globe-spanning. Bosma puts sugar at the heart of global capitalism; he shows how the quest for sweetness has driven slavery, violence, and massive ecological destruction. This is a timely and impressive book that illuminates some of our most urgent contemporary debates. -- Sunil Amrith, author of Unruly Waters: How Mountain Rivers and Monsoons Have Shaped South Asia’s HistorySugar got the modern world moving in a way few other commodities did. Revealing the bitter downside of sweetness, Bosma gives us a spectacular narrative that deftly weaves in all of sugar’s stories: labor and consumption, power and trade, science and technology. -- Jürgen Osterhammel, author of The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century

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Book SynopsisSociologist Mike Savage shows how economic inequality aggravates cultural, social, and political conflicts, challenging the framework of liberal democracy. By fracturing social bonds, inequality turns back the clock, reviving conditions we have struggled for centuries to escape, including empire, dynastic elitism, and explosive ethnic division.Trade ReviewA major sociological contribution to the ongoing global debate on inequality and the return of social class. A must-read. -- Thomas Piketty, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, author of Capital and IdeologyWith a wide-ranging, original, and visionary argument and engagingly written, The Return of Inequality is a major contribution, the crowning of an exceptionally productive career focused on the sociology of inequality, social change, and culture in the UK, Europe, and the world. -- Michèle Lamont, Harvard University, past president of the American Sociological AssociationEmpirical analyses have documented increasing inequality over recent decades. There have been passionate calls to action. But the analyses and the action need to be linked by careful consideration of just how to think about inequality, including its locations, dimensions, forms, and visceral experiences. The Return of Inequality responds to that need with insight, deep thought, and important new perspective. -- Craig Calhoun, Arizona State UniversityFor Savage, there is a link between the rise of an ‘inequality paradigm’ (focused especially on wealth, rather than income) and movements such as Black Lives Matter and Rhodes Must Fall, which seek to address the economic legacy of historical injustices. The spotlight that has fallen on Russian oligarchs since the invasion of Ukraine is another manifestation of the inequality paradigm, emphasizing the links between present injustices (not to say humanitarian catastrophes) and political-economic maneuvering dating back to the 1990s. -- William Davies * London Review of Books *This highly original book deploys a unique combination of history, classic sociology, cultural sociology, and contemporary economics. Savage makes a compelling argument about how the legacy of the past combines with capitalist accumulation to affect inequalities of race, gender, and class around the world. His sophisticated reflections about the visual representation of inequality inform a broader inquiry into how the achievements and limits of social science shape the new politics of inequality. The book defines the emerging field of comparative global inequality. -- Patrick Le Galès, Sciences Po, Centre for European Studies and Comparative PoliticsSavage’s provocative book compels us to seek organizational answers. -- Mitchel Y. Abolafia * Administrative Science Quarterly *A much-needed and highly insightful intellectual history of the concept and analysis of inequality…Extremely well written, engaging, and learned…It should be read carefully by social scientists who study inequality. -- Richard Lachmann * American Journal of Sociology *

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Book SynopsisUpending the conventional wisdom that Bretton Woods was the product of an amiable Anglo-American collaboration, this book shows that it was in reality part of a much more ambitious geopolitical agenda hatched within President Franklin D Roosevelt's Treasury and aimed at eliminating Britain as an economic and political rival.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2013 Spear's Book Award in Financial History Co-Winner of the 2014 Bronze Medal in Economics, Axiom Business Book Awards One of The Motley Fool's (John Reeves) 10 Great Books on American Economic History One of Financial Times (FT.com) Best History Books of 2013 One of Bloomberg News' Top Business Books of 2013 One of Kirkus Reviews' Best Nonfiction Books of the Year for 2013 in Business and Economics One of Bloomberg/Businessweek Best Books of 2013, as selected individually by Fredrik Erixon, Scott Minerd, Olli Rehn and Alan Greenspan Featured in The Sunday Times 2013 Holiday Roundup Shortlisted for the 2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards in Finance & Economics Honorable Mention for the 2014 Arthur Ross Book Award, Council on Foreign Relations Shortlisted for the 2014 Lionel Gelber Prize, Lionel Gelber Foundation "The Battle of Bretton Woods should become the gold standard on its topic. The details are addictive."--Fred Andrews, New York Times "Steil, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, understands the economic issues at stake and has done meticulous research on the history. Every good story that has ever been told about the major actors involved and the happening itself is in his book, and a few more besides. For those who come fresh to the subject, and even for those who know most of it, it is an excellent and revealing account."--Robert Skidelsky, New York Review of Books "A superb history. Mr. Steil ... is a talented storyteller."--James Grant, Wall Street Journal "[A] masterful (and readable) account of American realpolitik and British delusion."--Andrew Hilton, Financial World "Steil's book, engaging and entertaining, perceptive and instructive, is a triumph of economic and diplomatic history. Everything is here: political chicanery, bureaucratic skulduggery, espionage, hard economic detail and the acid humour of men making history under pressure."--Tony Barber, Financial Times "This is a fantastic book. Gold and money, two of my favorite topics. It's also brilliantly insightful history, and a gripping spy thriller to boot."--Larry Kudlow, CNBC "[T]he author masterfully translates the arcana of competing theories of monetary policy, and a final chapter explains how, while some of the institutions created by Bretton Woods endure--the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund--many of the conference's assumptions were swiftly overtaken by the Marshall Plan. Throughout Steil's sharp discussion runs the intriguing subplot of White's career-long, secret relationship with Soviet intelligence. A vivid, highly informed portrayal of the personalities, politics and policies dominating 'the most important international gathering since the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.'"--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "In his masterful account, The Battle of Bretton Woods, Steil situates the conference firmly in the tense, heightened atmosphere of the final months of World War II... Steil's book comes alive in his description of [Keynes' and White's] contrasting experiences at the conference."--Sam Knight, Bloomberg News "[H]ypnotically readable."--Peter Passell, Milken Institute Review "[T]hought provoking and well written."--Kathleen Burk, Literary Review "This is an excellent book... [It] also contains some explosive revelations about White's work as a Soviet spy, very well documented I might add."--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution "If you think economics and finance are dry subjects at best, Steil's book offers a refreshing surprise. It's a political thriller in which the protagonists, one whom you think you know and one whom you probably don't, are much more intriguing (in both senses of the word) than they first appear."--Daniel Altman, Big Think "[I]n a new book explaining what really happened at Bretton Woods, Benn Steil shows that what happened in the mountains of New Hampshire that summer is not quite the story we have been told."--Neil Irwin, WashingtonPost.com "[Benn Steil's] new book The Battle of Bretton Woods is perhaps the most accessible study yet of a key moment in world economic history that nonetheless is poorly understood."--Kevin Carmichael, Globe & Mail "The clash between Keynes and White forms a central theme in Benn Steil's absorbing book, which should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the not-so-special relationship between the US and Britain."--Geoffrey Owen, Standpoint Magazine "[F]ascinating... Steil ... spins the tale of how U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, a close friend of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, allowed White, a little-known economist who wasn't even on the U.S. Treasury's regular payroll, to dominate the department's monetary and trade policies beginning in the 1930s."--John M. Barry, USA Today "[A] well-written, fascinating history of the Bretton Woods conference on the international monetary system in July 1941. The book is deep, well researched, and hard to put down. Benn Steil ... has produced a book that will help us to understand history, but also one we can use to contrast with the current international economic situation... This is a very good book."--John M. Mason, Seeking Alpha "I do hope the title of this riveting read does not put off readers who mistake Benn Steil's latest work for an arcane discussion of exchange rates, the gold standard and the stuff of debates in commons rooms. This book is more than that, much more. It is a tale of a battle of titans and of a war between nations, each intent on establishing the economic architecture that would ensure its postwar economic domination of world finance."--Irwin Stelzer, Sunday Times "[V]ivid personality portraits and a lively writing style."--Mike Foster, Financial News "[F]ascinating... [R]iveting... The Battle of Bretton Woods is chock-full of provocative and timely observations."--Glenn C. Altschuler, Tulsa World "President Obama would be wise to take it to Martha's Vineyard this summer."--John Tamny, Forbes.com "Benn Steil has just completed a fascinating book that looks at what really happened in the small New Hampshire town of Bretton Woods in 1944. Perhaps most surprising is that the real story that emerges isn't a tale of how 44 countries came together to rebuild the world. And the real story has different lessons for the 21st century than ambitious idealists might expect."--Andrew Sawers, Economia "[A] splendid book... If you want to understand the gold standard, the always-doomed dollar standard, why the IMF is in Washington, how the US deliberately humiliated Britain over debt before, during and after WWII as part of a very real currency war (but also out of genuine anti-colonial sentiment that the British never understood), this is the book for you... Every year publishers come out with a couple of purportedly serious books on FX, some by VIPs, and I read them all. This is the only one since Paul Volcker's Changing Fortunes in 1979 that is worth the price. It is non-partisan, well-written, thorough, and chock-full of the historical perspective that can so easily and so often get lost in the hurly-burly of the daily market."--Barbara Rockefeller, Harriman Intelligence blog "[A] provocative, lively and perceptive book that pulls together economics, politics, diplomacy and history and relates it to our current crisis."--Keith Simpson MP, Total Politics "This thorough, fascinating account of the international conference that culminated in the 1944 agreement to maintain stable exchange rates skillfully places it in its economic and geopolitical context... Steil not only recounts the intricacies of the deal making but also details the economic dimensions of Bretton Woods... With the help of 10 research assistants, Steil has tirelessly tracked down minute details of the Bretton Woods story and its epilogue... [Steil] offers excellent insight into the tribulations of the key players. He also tells the interesting tale of how, if not for the well-founded suspicions regarding Harry Dexter White's cooperation with Communist spies, the tradition of an American heading the World Bank and a European heading the IMF would have been reversed."--Financial Analysts Journal "Steil understands the economics at the heart of the tortuous negotiations, but he is also very good at explaining the politics, the power and the passions--the professional and personal rivalries--of the people at the negotiating table. He turns what could have been a dry account of economic accords into a thrilling story of ambition, drama, and intrigue."--Keith Richmond, Tribune Magazine, UK "[A] very well-written history, with lively personalities, [which] also serves as a great overview of the analytical issues in international monetary arrangements."--Diane Coyle, Enlightened Economist blog "Absorbing ... as an account of history-making at the highest level, this entertaining, informative, gossipy and, for the lay reader, often challenging book provides an excellent read."--Richard Steyn, Financial Mail "[A]n amazing true story ... highly entertaining."--Ian McMaster, Business Spotlight "An object lesson in how to make economic history at once entertaining and instructive."--Financial Times, "Books of the Year So Far" Summer Reading Guide "A valuable addition to the economic history literature."--Choice "It's always nice when you can combine outside reading for fun with something that is educational... [A] good read that is also good for you."--Daniel Shaviro, Jotwell "The book provides a terrifically written, gossipy account of the origins of Bretton Woods... Since the world spent several decades under the clumsy (and, to the U.S., costly) Bretton Woods regime, and since you sometimes hear people harkening back to that time as a golden age (which it surely was not), ... it is an important read for our day."--Dan Littman, Senior Payments Research Consultant and Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland "Benn Steil [of the] Council on Foreign Relations has written a fascinating book on the two main architects behind the Bretton Woods system... Steil's book is an outstanding piece of political science research ... extremely well written and well documented... It is strongly recommended."--Morten Balling, SUERF Newsletter "Benn Steil's remarkable book ... is an account of how the IMF first came to be, back in the sleepy New Hampshire summer of 1944... The Battle of Bretton Woods is an essential volume in any understanding of John Maynard Keynes, who though now seven decades gone is as influential a mind as we may yet see in the twenty-first century."--Brian Domitrovic, Library of Law and Liberty blog "Steil's book ... shows how normally abstruse economic and diplomatic history can be made palatable and even alluring to the general reader."--Christopher Silvester, Spear's "[A] fascinating account of the developments leading up to the Bretton Woods conference and its immediate aftermath, from the point of view of the two main characters involved: John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White. The book is based on extensive archive work, so often the participants speak for themselves, which makes for interesting reading."--Isaac Alfon, Central Banking Journal "The Battle of Bretton Woods sets forth in smooth prose and concise detail an authoritative narrative of the who-what-when-why of the great monetary conference of some 70 years ago. It is jam-packed with heady discussions... If we're fortunate, Benn Steil will deliver a follow-up."--Kevin R. Kosar, Weekly Standard "Individual persons are at the center of the story, which also comes loaded with tales of international intrigue, spycraft, and famous personalities. It's not just for history buffs and economics geeks."--Douglas French, Freeman, publication of the Foundation for Economic Education "Seduced by Keynes's rhetorical repudiation both of the 'austerity' implied by [promptly paying off Britain's war debts] and the 'temptation' of accepting a loan, the British shipped Keynes to Washington ... to seek 'justice', to wit, the third option. In his recent history of the period, Benn Steil deftly paints what ensued."--Patrick Honohan, Irish Times "[T]his thought-provoking book is about much more than the 1944 conference that established the architecture of the postwar international monetary system, leading to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank."--Foreign Affairs "Benn Steil has crafted a fine history... Characterized by fine and entertaining writing, The Battle of Bretton Woods is economic and political history in engrossing detail."--Satyajit Das, Naked Capitalism "Benn Steil provides a well-researched and interesting account of the historic monetary conference... His efforts make for an enjoyable read... Steil is perhaps at his best when articulating how the Bretton Woods system differed from the classical gold standard--a difference that would ultimately lead to the failure of Bretton Woods... Steil's excellent book should serve as a gentle reminder of which monetary systems have worked well in the past--and which should not be repeated."--William J. Luther, SSRN's Economic History eJournal "An informed citizenry includes an understanding of our economy and how it is integrated into the global financial system. For this, it is important to start from the ... discussions that occurred among 44 nations in the idyllic and calm resort at Bretton Woods, N.H., in 1944. [Benn Steil's] new book details not only the meeting but the deep arguments between the British economist John Maynard Keynes and [American Treasury official] Harry Dexter White... This is a serious book of political economic history."--Cmdr. Youssef Aboul-Enein, DCMilitary "Benn Steil's book provides a fascinating account of the developments leading up to the Bretton Woods conference and its immediate aftermath, from the point of view of the two main characters involved: John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White. The book is based on extensive archive work, so often the participants speak for themselves, which makes for interesting reading."--Isaac Alfon, Central Banking Journal "This masterful account dismantles the idyllic picture of the 1944 Bretton Woods international economic conference, situating it firmly in the tense atmosphere of the final months of World War II."--Laurie Muchnick, Bloomberg Top Business Books of 2013 "Steil's book is an object lesson in how to make economic history entertaining and instructive."--Tony Barber, Financial Times "Benn Steil not only produces the finest account of the conference that established the Pax Americana economic system after World War II, he does it with the skill of a novelist."--Jon Talton, SeattleTimes.com "[A] well-documented, engaging account of the Bretton Woods Conference... The material on Harry Dexter White is fascinating ... an essential reference [with] much to teach economic historians."--Joshua Hausman, Journal of Economic History "The Battle of Bretton Woods is a thorough and fascinating account of a historic event, skillfully placed in its economic and geopolitical context. [H]e offers excellent insight into the tribulations of the key players. He also tells the interesting tale of how, if not for the well-founded suspicions regarding Harry Dexter White's cooperation with Communist spies, the tradition of an American heading the World Bank and a European heading the IMF would have been reversed."--Martin S. Fridson, Financial Analysts Journal "Steil's book is essential reading for students of multilateralism, diplomacy, and international economic relations... It is also an excellent overview of the behind-the-scenes machinations that caused Britain to agree to the final document that placed America, and the dollar, at the top of the global financial pyramid... [O]f primary interest to most readers ... it is a fascinating and nuanced glimpse into the psychology of Second World War era economic espionage."--Marc D. Froese, International Journal "This story is well told. It is also well known... Steil is targeting a broader audience than scholars, however, and in that sense, this book is a success at recasting a surprisingly exciting story."--Thomas W. Zeiler, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society "Steil breathes new life and controversy into a familiar story by emphasizing the intellectual and political clash between John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White."--James McAllister, H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable "Steil rarely puts a foot wrong. His analysis of policies and personalities, however he has acquired his knowledge, reflects a sophisticated understanding of the inner workings of financial diplomacy."--Stephen Schuker, H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable "[A]n ably crafted narrative."--Darel Paul, H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable "[The book] is a welcome departure from less political, or more American-centric, accounts of Bretton Woods."--William Glenn Gray, H-Diplo/ISSF Roundtable "[T]his is a beautiful narrative of the making of Bretton Woods, based on serious archival research and with some nice old photos as illustrations."--Ivo Maes, History of Economic Ideas "The Battle of Bretton Woods is a remarkable work that embraces many disciplines: economic history, political economy and international relations. Benn Steil is able to merge the different perspectives from all these disciplines, taking the reader into both the political battle and the economic thinking."--Anna Missiaia, Financial History Review "A gripping account... John Le Carre meets international monetary history: this is clearly a different kind of page-turner."--Jayati Ghosh, Economic & Political Weekly "The Battle of Bretton Woods is a remarkable work that embraces many disciplines: history, economic history, political economy and international relations. Benn Steil is able to merge the different perspectives from all these disciplines, taking the reader into both the political battle and the economic thinking that took place at Bretton Woods."--Anna Missiaia, Financial History Review "Epic."--Ashok Rao, Vox "[E]ngaging and instructive ... Benn Steil has written a book full of historical insight and human color."--Robert L. Hetzel, Econ Focus "[A] good piece of historical investigation that will put an end to doubts as to whether White was in fact a Soviet agent."--Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Economica "[A] thoughtful and well-researched addition to economic history."--Mark L. Wilson, Journal of Economic Issues "With extensive, original research, Benn Steil has rewritten the history of the conference. Steil reveals the illusions of its two central figures: John Maynard Keynes, the most famous economist of the twentieth century and a senior member of the British delegation, and Harry Dexter White, the little-known assistant secretary of the US Treasury, who almost singlehandedly ran the conference... A major contribution to economic, intellectual, and political history, which is accessible to a wide audience and presents an endlessly fascinating portrait of two complicated men."--Carl, Strikwerda, The Historian "Benn Steil's The Battle of Bretton Woods is a superb, carefully researched history that enables readers to view today and tomorrow from the vantage point of the past."--Robert B. Zoellick, International Economy "The Battle of Bretton Woods offers a tantalizing peek into another time of financial stress compounded by a world war... The chess match between White and Keynes is well worth the price of admission--the price of the book and the time it takes to read it."--Don R. Leet, American Economist "The Battle of Bretton Woods is a well-researched and excellently written book that is recommended for everyone interested in economic and diplomatic history."--Tobias Leeg, Political Studies ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: The World Comes to the White Mountains 9 Chapter 3: The Improbable Rise of Harry White 17 Chapter 4: Maynard Keynes and the Monetary Menace 61 Chapter 5: "The Most Unsordid Act" 99 Chapter 6: The Best-Laid Plans of White and Keynes 125 Chapter 7: Whitewash 155 Chapter 8: History Is Made 201 Chapter 9: Begging Like Fala 251 Chapter 10: Out with the Old Order, In with the New 293 Chapter 11: Epilogue 330 Appendix 1: Harry Dexter White Manuscript Photos 349 Appendix 2: Statement of Harry S. Truman on Harry Dexter White, 1953 351 Cast of Characters 355 Notes 371 References 407 Index 427

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A Financial Times Book to Read in 2023""This is a model of economic history, acute, profound and diverting."---Ferdinand Mount, London Review of Books"[Virtuous Bankers] is compelling and lively, and will please both academic and general readers. . . . Murphy’s thorough research sets a high standard for future work in this field."---Perry Gauci, Literary Review"Brilliant."---Jesse Norman, The Spectator"Fascinating. . . . [Murphy] makes the technicalities of financial history accessible and personal."---Martin Daunton, BBC History Magazine"Murphy turns what could have been a dry bureaucratic history into a fascinating and engaging read. Above all, her book highlights the value of approaching the big questions in economic history with a sensitivity to the routines and rhythms of everyday life."---James Taylor, History Today"The modus operandi of the Bank of England is described assiduously in [this] delightful new book." * Grant's Interest Rate Observer *"[Murphy] excels in putting this microhistory in the larger context of the bank's relationship with the British state and British economic history. . . . By situating the Bank of England in the contexts of London and Britain at large, Murphy paints it a lively, much-needed, and three-dimensional portrait that uncovers the unknown corners of this well-known bank."---Zhihui Zou, World History Encyclopedia"Well-researched. . . . Murphy’s history is unique."---Kofi Adjepong-Boateng, Financial Times"Murphy has produced an impressive historical study of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street that makes a compelling case for why this particular period in its history is so important. Her book will be of interest not only to specialists, but also to anyone interested in how Britain’s financial system evolved."---Matthew Partridge, Money Week

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Book SynopsisComprising a collection of interview essays with nineteen public intellectuals and scholars from around the world, this book reflects on some of the most pressing questions of our age: what is global inequality; what causes it; and how should we deal with it? Leading figures within the fields of History, Sociology, Economics, Anthropology and Postcolonial Studies, shed light on how their personal backgrounds, places of work, and hometowns have shaped their views on global inequality. We learn about the causes of global inequality, the historical factors that have shaped the world into an unequal place, and the challenges that humanity is confronted with in the face of the widening gap between the poor and the rich. Bringing together voices from the Global North and South, this book helps us to think more broadly about inequality and deepens our understanding of how this long-lasting phenomenon is, and has been, experienced across the globe.Table of Contents1. Introduction; Christian Olaf Christiansen, Oliver Bugge Hunt, Melanie Lindbjerg Machado-Guichon, Sofía Mercader Priyanka JhaPart I. Deep Roots: Legacies of Imperialism and Colonialism2. Global Equality and Inequality: Notes for a New History; Siep Sturrman3. Poverty and Ideology: Historic Pathways to Global Inequality; Julia McClure4. Anti-Imperalism and Global Inequality; Göran Therborn5. The Colonial Matrix of Power as a Wakeup Call; Walter Mignolo6. From Third World to First, and Back Again: Colonial Logics and Global Inequality; Kho Tung-YiPart II. Unequal Entanglements: A Capitalist World System7. Global Finance and Global Inequality: An Analysis Built on Global Measurement; James K. Galbraith8. How the Global Movement of Money and People Turns the World Upside Down; Alastair Greig9. The Need to Centre Imperialism in Our Study of Global Inequality; Ingrid Kvangraven10. Global Inequality and the Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism; Gilbert Achcar11. The Unequal Effects of Climate Change; Patrick BondPart III. The Inertia of Hierarchies: Class, Caste, Race and Gender12. Reflecting on Global Inequality through my Experience of Inequality in India; Krishnas Swamy13. Writing about Poverty and Caste as a Novelist and Cultural Critic; Subramanian Shankar14. From the Personal to the Global; Arabo Ewinyu15. Global Solidarities against Global Inequality; Manushi Yami BhattaraiPart IV. Thinking Beyond Economics: The Politics of Inequalities16. From Chile to New York: Inequality, Corruption and Ogliarchic Domination; Camila Vergara17. Thinking about Global Inequality: From Buenos Aires to Belgrade; Agustín Cosovschi18. Making the Familiar Strange: Anthropological Reflections on Global Inequality; Tania Li19. Mauritius in an Unequal World; Sheila Bunwaree.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Winner of the Immanuel Wallerstein Memorial Book Award, Political Economy of the World-System Section of the American Sociological Association""Roos has given us a thought-provoking book that will repay the investment of any reader with an interest in sovereign debt."---Michael Reddell, Central Banking Journal"[A] fresh and painstakingly researched approach that raises vital questions for economists, political scientists and policymakers."---Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan, LSE Review of Books"[A] timely and thoroughly researched book—destined to become an obligatory reference in the field."---Veronica Santarosa, Journal of Economic History"[I've] been reading Why Not Default? at an excruciating pace for the best reason: every page or so I get inspired some subtheme or footnote and go off chasing it down."---Quinn Slobodian"Roos makes a powerful and provocative argument." * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy *"A fantastic contribution to the growing literature on sovereign debt. . . . Why Not Default? will be a mandatory reference for scholars working on financialization, debt, and structural power."---José Tomás Labarca, Finance and Society"[Why Not Default?] does a great service . . . by synthesizing a huge amount of detailed information about these crises in one place, and by clarifying the interlocking effects of a host of social, economic and political changes over the past century."---Shaina Potts, Antipode

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Book SynopsisCommunist and capitalist states alike were scarred by the economic shocks of the 1970s. Why did only communist governments fall in their wake? Fritz Bartel argues that Western democracies were insulated by neoliberalism. While austerity was fatal to the legitimacy of communism, democratic politicians could win votes by pushing market discipline.Trade ReviewWhat distinguishes the exceptionally well-researched…The Triumph of Broken Promises is [Bartel’s] parallel analysis of how the crisis was handled in the democratic West and the authoritarian East, and how it ultimately led to the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism. It is this unified framework, plus its implications for several eminently political events: the break up of the Soviet Union and other Communist federations, the unification of Germany, etc., that represents, in in my opinion, the book’s greatest strength. -- Branko Milanovic * Global Inequality and More 3.0 *The best structural account yet of the end of the Cold War, the rise of neoliberalism, and the emergence of the current world order. An elegant work of critical historical analysis, the book is essential reading for those invested in building a better, more equitable future. -- Sean T. Byrnes * Jacobin *Striking in its hardheaded realism…[A] tremendously sharp work. -- Alex Hochuli * American Affairs *As the title of the book suggests, the post–Cold War world would be indelibly marked by a retraction of social democratic commitments. Liberal democracy and neoliberal economies prevailed, according to Bartel, because ‘they were the best political and economic systems for breaking promises.’ -- Andre Pagliarini * New Republic *Why did the West win the Cold War? In this powerful new interpretation, Bartel argues that the struggle between democracy and communism was fundamentally a contest over which system of government could best harness industrial modernity to improve the lives of its people…The book’s originality lies in how it weaves together Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s program of reform, known as perestroika, and the conservative economic turn under U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. -- G. John Ikenberry * Foreign Affairs *A provocative, incisive, and lucid account of the end of the Cold War and the onset of neoliberalism. -- Melvyn P. Leffler * H-Diplo *Bartel retells the familiar narratives of nuclear and conventional arms control, the collapse of state socialism and Germany’s unification in a context where energy, finance and economic theory played a decisive role. -- John Nilsson-Wright * Global Asia *Challenging conventional narratives that focus on Reagan’s military-ideological assertiveness or Gorbachev’s openness to reform, the book gives a material and structural explanation of Western victory and Eastern defeat. This makes for fascinating history: finance and energy emerge as silent but vital battlegrounds, unlikely connections—like those between Japanese investors and Hungarian central bankers—come to the fore, and several East-West similarities surprise the reader. -- Max Krahé * Phenomenal World *How did the Cold War, which began as a competition to make promises, mutate into a race to break them? And why did the West win? Bartel offers a bold and compelling interpretation that links the history of the Cold War and neoliberalism to dramatic effect. The Triumph of Broken Promises will be essential reading. -- Adam Tooze, author of Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the WorldA pleasure to read with many short stories that illustrate the points being made on a more general level, thus making it more accessible to a broader audience. -- Ludoš Studený * Czech Journal of Contemporary History *If the Cold War began with a competition to provide welfare, it ended as both sides imposed austerity and discipline on their populations. Bartel’s brilliantly conceived and researched study renovates our understanding of how and why the Soviet Union was driven toward collapse precisely as the United States, faced with slowdown after the oil shock, moved toward neoliberal governance. Few books explain the makings of our times as well as this thrilling debut. -- Samuel Moyn, author of The Last Utopia: Human Rights in HistoryA deeply significant history of how the way in which the Cold War ended gave rise to the hegemony of neoliberal capitalism. Bartel traces this trajectory through personal narratives from East and West and through deep archival research. His book is a must-read for anyone interested in how the Cold War and its immediate aftermath produced the world we live in today. -- Odd Arne Westad, author of The Cold War: A World HistoryAn excellent work, attractively written, with a powerful argument that carries a large narrative arc from the oil shocks and international monetary confusion of the 1970s to the end of the Cold War. Promises were broken because governments could not meet the expectations of their populations, generated during the postwar economic miracle, about continuously rising incomes. The result was disaffection, but governments’ hands were tied. Well supported by fascinating archival materials, including from the IMF, this is a compelling story. -- Harold James, author of The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization CycleThe Triumph of Broken Promises is a stimulating book: conceptually sophisticated, full of archival finds, and profoundly illuminating of connections between the Cold War's end and neoliberalism's ascent. -- Gary Gerstle, author of The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewExamine[s] how slavery laid the foundation of American capitalism, including the invention of financial instruments, such as bonds that used enslaved people as collateral. -- Parul Sehgal * New York Times *Slavery in the United States was a business. A morally reprehensible—and very profitable business. Much of the research around the business history of slavery focuses on the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the business interests that fueled it. The common narrative is that today’s modern management techniques were developed in the factories in England and the industrialized North of the United States, not the plantations of the Caribbean and the American South. According to a new book by historian Caitlin Rosenthal, that narrative is wrong… Rosenthal argues that slaveholders in the American South and Caribbean were using advanced management and accounting techniques long before their northern counterparts. Techniques that are still used by businesses today. * Marketplace *Absolutely compelling. -- Diane Coyle * Five Books *[This] history of the accounting and management of slave plantations in the Americas goes a long way towards puncturing common-sense narratives of free market economics. -- Martin Myers * Times Higher Education *Valuable…Rosenthal proves that precise calculation of labor productivity took root in the slave economy. The irony is that it was more aggressively calculated there than among many Northern manufacturers of the time. -- Jeremy Ray Jewell * Arts Fuse *Looks at how sugar and cotton plantations organised and tracked production. It is a fascinating yet horrifying history of how planters saw the slaves they profited from—and how they drove up production…Challenges many dominant ideas about capitalism, class and progress. -- Sadie Robinson * Socialist Worker *Full of insights into the history of Atlantic slavery, Accounting for Slavery will force its readers to look with fresh eyes at the many freedoms and unfreedoms of the modern American workplace. This is an original book, which uniquely draws from and speaks to many disciplines, while written compellingly for a wide audience. -- Jonathan Levy, University of ChicagoBy paying close attention to slaveholders’ methods of keeping accounts, Caitlin Rosenthal shows how and why they tried to reduce human beings to marks on a ledger. Anyone concerned with the sometimes dark history of management, data, and modern accounting practices needs to read this brilliant, carefully argued book. -- W. Caleb McDaniel, Rice University

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Book SynopsisClear, insightful, and nondogmatic, this book gives us a new appreciation for one of our most ubiquitous institutions.Trade Review"There could be no better guide to the modern view of markets than John McMillan's book." -- Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel prize winner in economics

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Book SynopsisTaxation is crucial to the functioning of the modern state. Tax revenues pay for public services - roads, the courts, defence, welfare assistance to the poor and elderly, and in many countries much of health care and education too. More than one third of national income in the industrialized (OECD) countries is on average taken in taxation. Taxes affect individuals in many ways. Taxes paid on income and spending directly reduce taxpayer disposable income, taxpayers face the hassle of tax returns and making payments, and they may be anxious about the possibility of investigation and enforcement action. People also adapt their activities in various ways to reduce the impact of taxation - putting money into tax-free savings accounts, or making shopping trips to other countries where taxes are lower. Taxation is therefore central to politics and public debate. Politicians that make reckless campaign promises about taxation then have to live with the uncomfortable consequences if elected. Businesses lobby for tax breaks that they claim will create jobs and prosperity. In this Very Short Introduction Stephen Smith shows how taxes have real effects on citizens and the economy that tax policy-makers have to balance. Although tax policy will always be a highly political issue, he argues that public decisions about taxation would be improved by a better understanding of the role of taxation, and of the nature and effects of different taxes.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade Reviewa very short book on taxation I wish were longer... a clever, detailed and entertaining guide to tax policy. * Prospect, Philip Collins *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. What are taxes, and why do we need them? ; 2. The structure of taxation ; 3. Who bears the tax burden? ; 4. Taxation and the economy ; 5. Tax evasion and enforcement ; 6. Issues in tax policy ; Further Reading ; Index

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Book SynopsisReissued with a new foreword to mark the centenary of Harold Wilson's birth, Ben Pimlott''s classic biography combines scholarship and observation to illuminate the life and career of one of Britain''s most controversial post-war statesmen.Harold Wilson is one of the most enigmatic personalities of recent British history. He held office as Prime Minister for longer than any other Labour leader, and longer than any other premier in peacetime apart from Mrs Thatcher. His success at winning General Elections four in all has so far not been matched. His grasp of economic policy was better than that of any other Prime Minister, and he enjoyed a high reputation among foreign leaders. Yet, in retrospect, he seems a master tactician rather than a strategist and he is regarded today with more curiosity than respect, when he is not treated with contempt.Trade Review‘One of the great political biographies of the century’ A.N. Wilson, Evening Standard ‘Admirable and engrossing … Professor Pimlott’s picture of life at Number 10 and the strife within is vivid and unforgettable’ Daily Telegraph ‘A masterly piece of political writing’ New Statesman ‘The narrative gallops along, sweeping the reader with it in a rush of excitement. A mass of complex detail is marshalled with the art that conceals art’ Times Literary Supplement ‘Fascinating … Pimlott the X-ray has produced a work of formidable penetration’ Observer ‘His narrative is quite outstanding – clear, thoughtful and gripping … Some biographies enter the political discourse at once, thanks to their innate qualities and lucky timing. There are so many echoes of the Wilson years in the politics of today that this happy fate must surely belong to Pimlott’s book’ Andrew Marr, Independent

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Book SynopsisA panoramic reinterpretation of global history, this title traces the emergence and development of the modern world from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.Trade Review"However one casts up the balance-sheet on Wallerstein’s second volume, his effort commands respect and justifies interest in the volumes to follow." * Society *"An exciting and highly intelligent book. . . . The staggering pace at which Wallerstein moves over different levels of explanation, and skillfully combines them into his argument, deserves admiration." * History *"In this age of high specialization, Wallerstein's ambitious but judicious synthesis will command the respect of any scholar who has tried to grapple with the peculiarly intractable problems of this period. . . . the book is shot through with shrewd and often stimulating comment." * Journal of Modern History *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue to the 2011 Edition Introduction: Crisis of the seventeenth century? 1. The b-phase 2. Dutch hegemony in the world economy 3. Struggle in the core—phase i: 1651–1689 4. Peripheries in an era of slow growth 5. Semipheripheries at the crossroads 6. Struggle in the core—phase ii: 1689–1763 Bibliography Index

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