Niall Ferguson's acclaimed bestseller on the highs and lows of Britain's empire Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed Empire brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and...

Throughout history our societies have worked through networks and Ferguson's new book is a history of this remarkable aspect of human existence, from the networks that first allowed us to explore the oceans to today's hyper-linked world. He argues that networks have always been with us. Hierarchies rule, but networks innovate and make it possible that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread.

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot. Call if what you like, it matters now more than ever. In The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that financial history is 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 its never been told before.

With the world in the grip of the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, theres never been a better time to understand the ascent - and descent - of money.

Beautifully written ... Breathtakingly clever...