New Releases by Niall Ferguson

From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower Is America an empire? Certainly not, according to our government. Despite the conquest of two sovereign states in as many years, despite the presence of more than 750 military installations in two thirds of the world’s countries and despite his stated intention "to extend the benefits of freedom...to every corner of the world," George W. Bush maintains that "America has never been an empire." "We don’t seek empires," insists Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. "We’re not imperialistic." Nonsense, says Niall Ferguson. In Colossus he argues that in both military and economic terms America is nothing less than the most powerful empire the world has ever seen. Just like the British Empire a century ago, the United States aspires to globalize free markets, the rule of law, and representative government. In theory it’s a good project, says Ferguson. Yet Americans shy away from the long-term commitments of manpower and money that are indispensable if rogue regimes and failed states really are to be changed for the better. Ours, he argues, is an empire with an attention deficit disorder, imposing ever more unrealistic timescales on its overseas interventions. Worse, it’s an empire in denial—a hyperpower that simply refuses to admit the scale of its global responsibilities. And the negative consequences will be felt at home as well as abroad. In an alarmingly persuasive final chapter Ferguson warns that this chronic myopia also applies to our domestic responsibilities. When overstretch comes, he warns, it will come from within—and it will reveal that more than just the feet of the American colossus is made of clay.

Every book tells a story . . .And the 70 titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth and quality that formed part of the original Penguin vision in 1935 and that continue to define our publishing today. Together, they tell one version of the unique story of Penguin Books. One of Penguin''s bestselling non-fiction authors, Niall Ferguson has been hailed as the most brilliant historian of his generation for his fresh, provocative and controversial approach to subjects ranging from money to empires. 1914- Why the World Went to Warhas been specially adapted from Ferguson''s bestselling The Pity of War (1998). It is a radical reassessment of how the world hurtled into catastrophe in 1914.

Few economic events have had a more profound or enduring impact than the German hyperinflation of 1923, still remembered popularly as a root cause of Hitler''s rise to power. Yet many historians have argued that inflationary policies were, on balance, advantageous to post-1918 Germany, both boosting growth and helping to reduce reparations. The scholarly consensus is that there was no viable alternative to inflation. In Paper and Iron Niall Ferguson takes a different view. He argues that inflation was indeed an economic and political disaster, and further that there were alternative economic policies which could have stabilised the German currency in 1920. To explain why these were not adopted he points to long-term defects in the political institutions of the Reich which went back as far as the 1890s and which persisted beyond 1918. The book therefore reveals the Wilhelmine origins of Weimar''s failure, as well as casting light on the origins of the Third Reich.

Following the international success of his iconoclastic The Pity of War, Niall Ferguson now takes on the history of money -the sinews of war - and power.

La idea de que el dinero hace girar el mundo es una nocion seductora. El cambio economico parece haber sido el primer motor del cambio politico, tanto en la era de la industria como en la de Internet. Niall Ferguson desafia este supuesto al ofrecer una historia radicalmente nueva sobre el nexo entre el dinero y el poder. A lo largo de la historia moderna b"sostiene el autor- han sido tanto las finanzas como las armas las que han decidido los destinos de las naciones en la gran prueba de la guerra. Todavia hoy nuestras vidas estan dominadas por instituciones originadas en tiempos de guerra: el impuesto sobre la renta, los parlamentos, las deudas nacionales, los bancos centrales e incluso las bolsas. El poder politico puede estar mas vinculado a la financiacion de las campanas que a la prosperidad del periodo pre-electoral; pero deberiamos invertir mas, y no menos, en le proceso democratico. La globalizacion financiera sin una autoridad imperial definida puede ser demasiado inestable; en comparacion con las superpotencias del pasado, Estado Unidos esta negandose a asumir sus responsabilidades internacionales. Las burbujas y las crisis financieras pueden ser presagios de una crisis mas profunda que podria detener el avance de la democracia y el capitalismo. Esta obra constituye una sintesis audaz de la historia politica y de la teoria economica moderna que presenta conclusiones desafiantes e inquietantes sobre el futuro del capitalismo y de la democracia.

In this landmark work of history, Ferguson vividly brings back to life this terrifying period and makes a simple and provocative argument: that the human atrocity known as the Great War was entirely England''s fault. 34 illustrations.

1st complete history of the Rothschild banking dynasty with full access to worldwide archives. Ever since the Rothschild''s spectacular rise to preeminence in European finance during the last, turbulent years of the Napoleonicwars, a mythology has grown up around the family and it''s firms. It is no exaggeration to say that the Rothschilds became 1 of theliving legends of the 19th century: the personfication of a new era in which money determined status and power, an era in which 5 Jewish brothers born into the wretchedness of the Frnakfurt Ghetto could rise by their own ingenuity to become '' the worlds bankers'' - dominating the international financial markets, rubbing shoulders with the social elite, patronising the great artists and architects of the era and above all exerting a decisive, if veiled, influence over the world''s monarchs and statesmen. Using a wealth of archival sources as well as a vast amount of little known contemporary and more recent secondary literature, Niall Ferguson''s definitive study will finally hold the mirror of reality up to the face of myth. The result promises not only to do justice to the history of Rothschilds, but to revolutionise the history of the years of their rise and preeminence, and to reveal fascinating continuities from the 19th century to our own time.

Bestselling author Niall Ferguson offers a myth-breaking portrait of one of the most fascinating and powerful families in Europe. Hidden for nearly 50 years in the KGB''s special archive, the uncovered records cast new light on the banking family''s rise to preeminence.