Publisher: Times Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/18/2011
ISBN-13: 9780805091021
ISBN-10: 0805091025

Author Daniel Altman (Neoconomy) leaves few stones unturned in this "cool, collected, and sensible" (Publishers Weekly) look at where global wealth goes, and why. Along the way, he up-ends many current economic "truths." It's all about technology, right? Wrong! Geography and culture--as much as governmental policies--will most impact the world's financial future. Among Altman's predictions: China's economic boom will bust, undercut by its leaders' authoritarian socio-political values. And today's global finance centers will be no more, thanks to radical global migrations. Would-be global money mavens may also like Robert B. Reich's Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future.

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Publisher: Free Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/11/2011
ISBN-13: 9780743278935
ISBN-10: 0743278933

CNN national security analyst and author Peter Bergen (The Osama bin Laden I Know) returns with this definitive account of the War on Terror. Drawing on first-hand interviews with top-level jihadists (like Osama bin Laden himself) and U.S. officials, Bergen comprehensively treats topics from the origins of jihadist ideals to current issues in the Iraq war. America and al Qaeda have together launched a complex cycle of mutually flawed ideas, actions, and reactions whose peaceful outcome, Bergen predicts, remains unlikely. If the best that can be achieved for now is insight, readers will find this a resource that distinguishes itself with superlative detail and refined analyses.

Publisher: Publishers Group West
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/06/2009
ISBN-13: 9780802144164
ISBN-10: 0802144160

Money might make the world go 'round, but trade came first. Unequal access to resources started it all: for example, the Stone Age tribe settled by the rock quarry can't grow food; the tribe living where food grows needs stone for weapons--hence, trade! Just after that first rock/nut barter, the idea of "fair" trade (and its coveted twin unfair trade) were conceived. This Stone Age-to-present-day survey illustrates historic ideas of what constitutes fair trade; explores its impact on law, culture, and nation-building; and describes its pitfalls. The author's recent The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created is another rewarding exchange.

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Publisher: Penguin Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/13/2008
ISBN-13: 9781594201929
ISBN-10: 1594201927

What timing--just when the world is experiencing a series of financial dramas, Niall Ferguson offers up a look at the history of money, banking, and credit. Ferguson, a historian and author of several books on money-related topics, is an excellent guide to financial history from Mesopotamia's clay tablets to today's bursting bubbles. If you're looking for the logic behind financial institutions, want to better understand why credit was necessary for civilization to prosper, or are curious what Scottish widows have to do with insurance theory, you'll want to check out The Ascent of Money.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/08/2010
ISBN-13: 9781439102114
ISBN-10: 1439102112

We all know who really rules the world now: Facebook! Written with the cooperation of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, this "informative, thoughtful, and credible" (Publishers Weekly) study traces the site's evolution from humble dorm-room experiment to cultural, corporate power. Although some readers will be too busy using Facebook to read about it, the rest will enjoy this as a brief history of social networking from its early days. Ken Auletta's Googled offers readers a similarly well-researched, entertaining (albeit more critically-oriented) read on the other big techno-contender for making history in the 20th century and beyond.

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Publisher: Bantam Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/28/2009
ISBN-13: 9780553384710
ISBN-10: 0553384716

When Hernán Cortés and his soldiers arrived on the shores of Mexico intent on expanding the Spanish empire, they were hugely outnumbered by the peoples they hoped to convert and conquer in this new world. In the inland Aztec city of Tenochtitlán, King Montezuma ruled over a sophisticated civilization composed of 15 million people and commanded the most powerful military machine in the Americas. Yet within two years, Cortés had defeated the entire Aztec nation. For those interested in learning how Cortés was able to accomplish this astonishing feat--or if you simply want to learn more about the Aztec Empire--this "superb work" (Booklist) will be just the ticket.

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Publisher: Crown
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/01/2004
ISBN-13: 9780609610626
ISBN-10: 0609610627

Genghis Khan needs an agent--and gets one here! Most histories focus on the speed and ferocity with which he conquered more peoples and lands in 25 years than Rome had in 400. Instead, this thought-provoking read offers surprising evidence that he ruled with sophistication too: religious tolerance, diplomatic immunity, and his encouragement of free trade are only some examples. Though Kirkus Reviews concedes this account goes "rather lightly on the atrocities-butchery front," it's sure to be a "horde-pleaser" among popular history fans at large. It may have special charm for those who liked Simon Winchester's slightly more bookish The Man Who Loved China.

First Chapter  Table of Contents