Business & economics / Economic History

The Forgotten Depression

by James Grant

James Grant’s story of America’s last governmentally untreated depression: A bible for conservative economists, this “carefully researched history…makes difficult economic concepts easy to understand,...

American Capitalism

by Louis Hyman & Edward E. Baptist

From Cornell University Professors Louis Hyman and Edward E. Baptist, a collection of the most relevant readings on the history of capitalism in America, created to accompany their EdX course American Capitalism:...

Economic Actors, Economic Behaviors, and Presidential Leadership: The Constrained Effects of Rhetoric

by C. Damien Arthur

This book utilizes a theoretically informed framework for analyzing the effectiveness of the president’s economic rhetoric and employs an empirical assessment that measures rhetoric’s effect on economic...

Justice in the Marketplace in Early Modern Spain: Saravia, Villalon and the Religious Origins of Economic Analysis

by Michael Thomas D'Emic

Justice in the Marketplace in Early Modern Spain examines the religious views and motivations of the late scholastic authors Cristobal de Villalon and Luis Saravia de la Calle . Michael Thomas D’Emic explains...

Mullahs, Merchants, and Militants

by Stephen Glain

A thousand years ago, a vast Arab empire stretched from the Asian steppe across the Mediterranean to Spain, pioneering new technologies, sciences, art and culture. Arab traders and Arab currencies dominated...

Political Vanity: Adam Ferguson on the Moral Tensions of Early Capitalism

by Matthew B. Arbo

Political Vanity aims to illuminate the central debates over the historical, moral, and political legitimacy of market capitalism as though still profoundly theological in character. This theological sensitivity...

Capital of Capital: Money, Banking, and Power in New York City

by Steven H. Jaffe, Jessica Lautin & Museum of the City of New York

From Revolutionary-era bank notes and stock and bond trading during the Civil War to the invention of modern mortgages and the 2008 financial collapse, Capital of Capital explores how New York City gave rise...

The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century

by Jürgen Osterhammel & Patrick Camiller

A monumental history of the nineteenth century, The Transformation of the World offers a panoramic and multifaceted portrait of a world in transition. Jürgen Osterhammel, an eminent scholar who has been called...

Zero-Sum Future

by Gideon Rachman

With a new foreword on the revolutions in the Arab world and the euro crisis, one of the world’s most influential commentators on international affairs offers a stark warning about a gathering global political...

Shock of Gray: The Aging of the World's Population and How it Pits Young Against Old, Child Against Parent, Worker Against Boss, Company Against Rival

by Ted Fishman

The New York Times bestselling author of China, Inc. reports on the astounding economic and political ramifications of an aging world.

The world’s population is rapidly aging—by the year 2030, one billion...

Life and Work in Medieval Europe

by P. Boissonade

Erudite yet readable work traces the economic evolution of Europe from 5th to 15th century. Focusing on working people, it covers breakup of feudal estates, development of small craft and large capitalist industries,...

Early Economic Thought: Selected Writings from Aristotle to Hume

by Arthur Eli Monroe

A vital and varied survey of economic theory in the pre-modern era, this well-chosen collection includes extracts from the works of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Antonio Serra, and David Hume.

General Economic History

by Max Weber

Starting with descriptions and analyses of the agrarian systems, the famed economist explores manorial system, guilds, and early capitalism, organization of industry and mining, development of commerce, the...

The History of the Standard Oil Company: Briefer Version

by Ida M. Tarbell & David M. Chalmers

This muckraking classic, which eventually led to effective regulation of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, was the inaugural work for crusading journalists whose mission was to expose corruption in...

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

by Max Weber

Author's best-known and most controversial study relates the rise of a capitalist economy to the Puritan belief that hard work and good deeds were outward signs of faith and salvation.

John Maynard Keynes: Free Trader or Protectionist?

by Joseph R. Cammarosano

John Maynard Keynes: Free Trader or Protectionist? sheds light on Keynes’ position on the issue of free versus protected international trade. Over his lifetime, Keynes’ position altered from free to restricted...

The Shadow Market

by Eric J. Weiner

Acclaimed financial journalist Eric J. Weiner reveals how foreign countries and private investors are increasingly controlling the global economy and secretly wresting power from the United States in ways that...

Chasing the White Dog

by Max Watman

In Chasing the White Dog, journalist Max Watman traces the historical roots and contemporary story of hooch. He takes us to the backwoods of Appalachia and the gritty nip joints of Philadelphia, from a federal...

The Great Money Binge

by George Melloan

According to George Melloan, the erosion of supply-side economic principles began shortly after Ronald Reagan left office, when his successor, George H.W. Bush, caved in to pressures from Congress and reneged...

Gold: The Race for the World's Most Seductive Metal

by Matthew Hart

From the award-winning author of Diamond: A blazing exploration of the human love affair with gold that “combines the engaging style of a travel narrative with sharp-eyed journalistic exposé” (Publishers...