Economic History, United States, Historical Study & Educational Resources, World 

Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to the latest upheavals. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labor. But historian Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history. Through Ferguson's expert lens, for example, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world's first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. Yet the central lesson of financial history is that, sooner or later, every bubble bursts.--From publisher description. 

Genre/Form: Nonfiction
History
Material Type: Internet resource
Document Type: Book, Internet Resource
All Authors / Contributors: Niall Ferguson
ISBN: 1594201927 9781594201929 9781410415332 1410415333 9781607519676 1607519674 9780143116172 0143116177
OCLC Number: 191929255
Notes: TV tie-in.
Description: v, 441 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Contents: Introduction --
Dreams of avarice --
Of human bondage --
Blowing bubbles --
The return of risk --
Safe as houses --
From empire to Chimerica --
Afterword : The descent of money.
Series Title: New York Times best sellers.
Responsibility: Niall Ferguson.