9781594201929

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Chronicles the human drama behind the evolution of finance from its origins in Mesopotamia to the modern world's most recent upheavals, in an account that covers such topics as the stock market bubble that prompted the French Revolution, the theories behind common investment vehicles, and the reasons why the free market is failing to protect Hurricane Katrina victims. 75,000 first printing.

"Although THE ASCENT OF MONEY is pockmarked by digressions (about things like the Black-Scholes model of options pricing) that many lay readers will find arcane and difficult to understand, the book as a whole is animated by Mr. Ferguson's narrative gifts, among them his ability to discuss complex ideas in user-friendly terms. He also has a knack for illustrating his larger hypotheses with colorful stories about people like Nathan Rothschild... the Scottish economist and gambler John Law...; and the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman and his so-called Chicago Boys, who helped bring economic reforms to Pinochet's Chile."

Michiko Kakutani, New York Times, 12/02/2008

"Whatever one thinks of his arguments, it's impossible to ignore Niall Ferguson. He's like the brightest kid in the debating club, the one who pulls all-nighters in the library and ferrets out facts no one thought to uncover. And in his latest book, THE ASCENT OF MONEY...Ferguson takes us on an often enlightening and enjoyable spelunking tour through the underside of great events, a lesson in how the most successful great powers have always been underpinned by smart money."

Michael Hirsh, New York Times Book Review, 12/28/2008

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World: Search Results