The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World: 10th Anniversary Edition

The 10th anniversary edition, with new chapters on the crash, Chimerica, and cryptocurrency

In this updated edition, Niall Ferguson brings his classic financial history of the world up to the present day, tackling the populist backlash that followed the 2008 crisis, the descent of "Chimerica" into a trade war, and the advent of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, with his signature clarity and expert lens.
 
The Ascent of Money reveals finance as the backbone of history, casting a new light on familiar events: the Renaissance enabled by Italian foreign exchange dealers, the French Revolution traced back to a stock market bubble, the 2008 crisis traced from America's bankruptcy capital, Memphis, to China's boomtown, Chongqing. We may resent the plutocrats of Wall Street but, as Ferguson argues, the evolution of finance has rivaled the importance of any technological innovation in the rise of civilization. Indeed, to study the ascent and descent of money is to study the rise and fall of Western power itself.

• Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History
• Civilization: The West and the Rest
• The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
• The House of Rothschild
• Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World
• The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die
• The House of Rothschild: Volume 2: The World's Banker: 1849-1999
• The History of Money
• Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power
• Civilization: The West and the Rest