This is a full and authoritative account of the history of private banking, beginning with its development in conjunction with the world markets served by and centred on a few European cities, notably Amsterdam and London. These banks were usually partnerships, a form of organization which persisted as the role of private banking changed in response to the political and economic transformations of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was in this period, and the succeeding Golden Age ...

The essays incorporated into this volume share an ambitious interest in investigating death as an individual, social and metaphorical phenomenon that may be exemplified by themes involving burial rituals, identity, and commemoration. The disciplines represented are as diverse as art history, classics, history, music, languages and literatures, and the approaches taken reflect various aspects of contemporary death studies. These include the fear of death, the role of death in shaping human ...

**The 10th anniversary edition, with new chapters on the crash, Chimerica, and cryptocurrency"[An] excellent, just in time guide to the history of finance and financial crisis." —The Washington Post"Fascinating." —Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek**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 tra...

**Winner of the Pulitzer Prize“A magisterial work.” —New York Times Book Review“The rich and charming story of the end of the world.” —TIME“Highly readable.” —Financial Times“This absorbing study of the first collective of central bankers is provocative, not least because it is still relevant.” —The Economist**It is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a confluence of events ...

A major work of economic, social and political history, Niall Ferguson's The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker 1849-1999 is the second volume of the acclaimed, landmark history of the legendary Rothschild banking dynasty.Niall Ferguson's House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848 was hailed as a "great biography" by Time magazine and named one of the best books of the year by Business Week. Now, with all the depth, cla...

A brilliant investigation into the most powerful institution you’ve never heard of.**“An absorbing and thorough examination.” —**ReutersThe Bank for International Settlements is the bank for central banks. It is one of the world’s most secretive—and most influential—global financial institutions.Created by the governors of the Bank of England and the Reichsbank in 1930 and protected by an international treaty, the BIS and i...

'The Brussels Commission has just suspended its senior economist, Bernard Connolly, for writing a book savaging the prospects for a common currency. There are many who now believe he should be lauded as a prophet.' Observer, Editorial, 1 October 1995'Mr. Connolly's longstanding proposition that the foisting of a common currency upon so many disparate nations would end in ruin is getting a much wider hearing... ' New York Times, 17 November...

David Hackett Fischer, one of our most prominent historians, has garnered a reputation for making history come alive--even stories as familiar as Paul Revere's ride, or as complicated as the assimilation of British culture in North America. Now, in The Great Wave, Fischer has done it again, marshaling an astonishing array of historical facts in lucid and compelling prose to outline a history of prices--"the history of change," as Fischer puts it--covering the dazzling sweep of Western hi...

From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the TowerIn his rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family, Oxford scholar and bestselling author Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family's phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family's vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. An...

The world was wild for gold. After discovering the Americas, and under pressure to defend their vast dominion, the Habsburgs of Spain promoted gold and silver exploration in the New World with ruthless urgency. But, the great influx of wealth brought home by plundering conquistadors couldn't compensate for the Spanish government's extraordinary military spending, which would eventually bankrupt the country multiple times over and lead to the demise of the great empire.Gold became s...

A “brilliant” (Los Angeles Review of Books) history of accounting, showing how financial and political accountability has shaped the rise and fall of nations and empiresWhether building a road or fighting a war, leaders from ancient Mesopotamia to the present have relied on financial accounting to track their state's assets and guide its policies. Basic accounting tools such as auditing and double-entry bookkeeping form the basis of modern capitalism and the nation-state. Yet our a...