Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot. Call it what you like, it matters now more than ever. In The Ascent of Money,Niall Ferguson shows that financial historyis the back-story to all history.

From the banking dynasty who funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that caused the French Revolution, this is the story of booms and busts as it's never been told before.

With the world in the grip of the biggest financial crisissince the Great Depression, there's never been a bettertime to understand the ascent - and descent - of money.

 Introduction

1 Dreams of Avarice

z Of Human Bondage

3 Blowing Bubbles

4 The Return of Risk

5 Safe as Houses

6 From Empire to Chimerica

 Afterword: The Descent of Money

 Acknowledgements

 Notes

 List of Illustrations

Index