mondojohnson

Niall Ferguson is a heavyweight historian, probably the best in my generational cohort (not that I can rattle off any others)… he wrote “The War of the World” and the opus “Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World”.

In “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World” he turns his attention to the story of money and financial markets, from the days of clay tablets to the subprime lending crisis. He manages to do it very coherently in under 500 pages by demonstrating the inextricable relationship between financial evolution and social progress.

I know what you’re thinking: sounds like libertarian, Reaganomic religion: markets cure everything! But that is most definitely not Ferguson’s thesis, which is far more subtle and meta-political. Human civilization has undeniably benefited from the creation of abstractions such as credit, risk management and joint stock — and it has also suffered from the misuse or miscalculation of those technologies. Ferguson doesn’t deny that; he doesn’t have a political ax to grind.

I’d recommend this book for the financially semi-literate, like myself. If he could break it down for me, I’m sure he could for you.