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The Ascent of Money
- A Financial History of the World
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
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Editorial reviews
The Ascent of Money is a fast-paced, superbly written, and richly informative excursion through tableaus, themes, scenes, and events that mark the financial history of the world. Included are substantial details on the fiscal meltdown in progress in May 2008, before the book went to press, adding a 21st century variation on the theme of financial collapses detailed in The Ascent of Money. Niall Ferguson has written an exciting panorama of finance that is also very much a book for our times. This is history as global financial drama, of advancing financial development, and the always recurring back stories of financial decline and debacle. It is a book orchestrated as much as written. The Ascent of Money demands a narrator with the range of talents necessary for bringing to voice the rich orchestration of Ferguson's prose. Enter, stage right, Simon Prebble.
With his rich, versatile, and expressive British tenor voice (and his 300+ unabridged narrations in a variety of genres), Prebble is Ascent's perfect narrator. From the first sentence of the Introduction "Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: call it what you like, money matters." to the last sentence of the Afterword "It is not the fault of the mirror if it reflects our blemishes as clearly as our beauty." Prebble delivers the authentic voice of this financial history. Applying here an altered nuance of phrasing, there the shortest of a shift of timing and slant of intonation, and everywhere present the voice's active tonal center, Prebble drives Ferguson's historical narrative forward. In a print book the reading eye catches, and the mind registers - at places only subliminally - meanings that are too subtle to be directly communicated. By his command and application of stored registries of articulation, expression, and ranges of emotion, Prebble clearly shows that he belongs with the best of narrators who can tap into and reflect and suggest the visual acuity that registers in the mind when reading and narrating. David Chasey
Publisher's summary
Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot, lucre, moolah, readies, the wherewithal: Call it what you like, it matters. To Christians, love of it is the root of all evil. To generals, it's the sinews of war. To revolutionaries, it's the chains of labor. But in The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals financial history as the essential back story behind all history.
Through Ferguson's expert lens familiar historical landmarks appear in a new and sharper financial focus. Suddenly, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world's first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. And the origins of the French Revolution are traced back to a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scot murderer.
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-
Story
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.
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Such a great listen - What a History Lesson
- By Dorothy on 11-04-17
By: Niall Ferguson
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High Financier
- The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In this groundbreaking new biography, based on more than 10,000 hitherto unavailable letters and diary entries, best-selling author Niall Ferguson returns to his roots as a financial historian to tell the story of Siegmund Warburg, an extraordinary man whose austere philosophy of finance offers much insight today.
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A gem, if you are interested in these topics
- By Philo on 09-22-14
By: Niall Ferguson
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The Pity of War
- Explaining World War I
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 21 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The Pity of War makes a simple and provocative argument: the human atrocity known as the Great War was entirely England's fault. According to Niall Ferguson, England entered into war based on naive assumptions of German aims, thereby transforming a Continental conflict into a world war, which it then badly mishandled, necessitating American involvement. The war was not inevitable, Ferguson argues, but rather was the result of the mistaken decisions of individuals who would later claim to have been in the grip of huge impersonal forces.
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Ferguson wouldn’t know history if it hit him in the head
- By Schen on 10-07-20
By: Niall Ferguson
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The Square and the Tower
- Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Elliot Hill
- Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers, and field marshals. It's about states, armies, and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change?
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Not his best by a long chalk: Read Steven Pinker.
- By David on 02-05-18
By: Niall Ferguson
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Money
- The True Story of a Made-Up Thing
- By: Jacob Goldstein
- Narrated by: Jacob Goldstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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The cohost of the popular NPR podcast Planet Money provides a well-researched, entertaining, somewhat irreverent look at how money is a made-up thing that has evolved over time to suit humanity's changing needs.
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well researched and written but,
- By C&S on 09-29-20
By: Jacob Goldstein
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Lords of Finance
- The Bankers Who Broke the World
- By: Liaquat Ahamed
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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It is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a confluence of events beyond any one person's or government's control. In fact, as Liaquat Ahamed reveals, it was the decisions made by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of the economic meltdown, the effects of which set the stage for World War II and reverberated for decades.
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interesting insight into interwar period!
- By Toru on 11-27-09
By: Liaquat Ahamed
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A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Matthew Mezinskis
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the colonial period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history. Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume.
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Great facts (if selective); ideological rigidity
- By Philo on 02-04-16
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Devil Take the Hindmost
- A History of Financial Speculation
- By: Edward Chancellor
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Devil Take the Hindmost is a lively, original, and challenging history of stock market speculation from the 17th century to the present day. Edward Chancellor traces the origins of the speculative spirit back to ancient Rome and chronicles its revival in the modern world.
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Well-picked scenes span tulips up to 20 years ago
- By Philo on 03-07-19
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Wall Street
- A History, Updated Edition
- By: Charles R. Geisst
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Wall Street is an unending source of legend - and nightmares. It is a universal symbol of both the highest aspirations of economic prosperity and the basest impulses of greed and deception. Charles R. Geisst's Wall Street is at once a chronicle of the street itself - from the days when the wall was merely a defensive barricade built by Peter Stuyvesant - and an engaging economic history of the United States, a tale of profits and losses, enterprising spirits, and key figures that transformed America into the most powerful economy in the world.
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Many books in one; best linking of stories, eras
- By Philo on 03-23-14
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A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961-2021
- By: Alan S. Blinder
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Alan Blinder, one of the world's most influential economists and one of the field's best writers, draws on his deep firsthand experience to provide an authoritative account of sixty years of monetary and fiscal policy in the United States. Spanning twelve presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden, and eight Federal Reserve chairs, from William McChesney Martin to Jerome Powell, this is an insider's story of macroeconomic policy that hasn't been told before—one that is a pleasure to listen to, and as interesting as it is important.
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Listen for Nixon's Sake
- By Tricia on 10-26-22
By: Alan S. Blinder
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Kissinger
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 33 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Kissinger: The Idealist by Niall Ferguson, read by Roy McMillan. No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Hailed by some as the 'indispensable man' whose advice has been sought by every president from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, Kissinger has also attracted immense hostility from critics who have cast him as an amoral Machiavellian - the ultimate cold-blooded 'realist'.
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Excellent narrative & narrator
- By William Tutt on 10-10-17
By: Niall Ferguson
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Kissinger: Volume I
- 1923-1968: The Idealist
- By: Niall Ferguson
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 34 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as "Super-K" - the "indispensable man" whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama - he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every "telcon" for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial biography, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding.
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Riveting
- By Jean on 11-10-15
By: Niall Ferguson
What listeners say about The Ascent of Money
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- jholden
- 06-02-09
A worthy use of a credit
This book is timely and packed with information. The author puts our current "situation" in a historical context that proves very illuminating. I will be re-listening to the whole thing.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Paul
- 05-16-13
A must read for anyone interested Money
Any additional comments?
This book could be named How Money Impacts History or Money is the root of Everything. Niall does a good job of taking the reader through history using many smaller sub stories. There are so many great insights on what money actually is, how it can be used, and how its invention is tied directly to the advancement of the human race.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the study of finances, history, or culture.
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- Susan D.
- 05-17-20
teaching moments
I learned much from this book! even with a graduate degree in finance, Ferguson helped me pull together many concepts and provided an integrated understanding.
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- Doctor Bob
- 05-02-18
Hoooston...
Two issues. One, it is 10 years old, and therefore dated in spots.
Second, it’s Houston not Hoooston, and apparently exogenous is pronounced completely differently by British folks. Lots of names and places pronounced funny.
Overall good, though a novice might have trouble separating opinion from fact. Worth the listen.
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- Alex
- 05-22-15
Fascinating but a slow start
A good history of finance. The author does a good job of using unique stories to demonstrate his overarching theme of how financial cycles have played out across history. The book starts slow and is a bit technical for an audio book. However the pace picks up as he approaches 2008. The book is only improved by hindsight and I wish he could add another chapter to cover the last 7years.
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- Jeff
- 04-24-13
Fresh Perspective
Would you listen to The Ascent of Money again? Why?
This book quickly shows you that the real wizard behind the curtain is the world of finance. It explains and exposes why countries failed and succeeded, and how simple financial incentives have changed the course of human history. I would love to listen to this book again to better understand the lessons it has to teach.
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- Gordon Pow
- 01-31-13
Economics Can Be Interesting
Any additional comments?
It is not possible to understand Economics without understanding money. This book is a great place to start. And Niall Ferguson makes it interesting too!
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- Acteon
- 11-22-13
An informative survey
Would you consider the audio edition of The Ascent of Money to be better than the print version?
No, because I found the reader unsatisfactory. However, with a different reader, I might prefer the audio edition.
What did you like best about this story?
It covers a large number of subjects, many vital and interesting. Unlike certain reviewers, I enjoyed hearing even about events that are familiar, such as the Enron fraud, because my memory is far from perfect and I always find new information I had ignored.
How could the performance have been better?
Could have been much better. I have trouble with Prebble's voice that lacks resonance and sounds muffled (at least on my Bose Soundlink), and also with his clip but too matter of fact way of reading. His British accent (something I don't mind in other readers) adds to rendering certain words hard to understand.
Any additional comments?
One constant frustration is that this book was written shortly before the 2008 financial debacle and I am always wanting to know what the author would say today. This is one book that I think would benefit much from a second edition.On the other hand, just on the basis of what Ferguson wrote, the 2008 collapse could have been anticipated (at least with hindsight). I actually believe that if I had read this book say in June of 2008, I would have been sufficiently alarmed to take some steps to cut losses (at the time I took no interest in financial matters and had never heard of subprime mortgages, a topic Ferguson covers well considering that he was writing in 2007). It makes it even more incomprehensible that not more people (I mean those involved in finances) were aware of the danger. Though Ferguson takes a largely objective and politically unbiased view, the information he gives does seem to support in part something like 'The Trillion Dollar Conspiracy' (I have little affinity for conspiracy theories, yet cannot deny some of the evidence marshaled by Marrs and others).A book that provides a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of money is Divid Graebber's Debt: The First 5000 Years. A truly great book.
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- FoCoBuzz
- 07-16-14
Good but would be better to actually read it
This is a good overview of the history and evolution of money, banking and finance. I think it would be better as a book to read. Some of the material is a little dry even for someone like me who is fascinated by finance. The book is a little out of date and was written just as the recession of 2008 was beginning to emerge so some of the discussion seems be missing content had it been written post-2010 or so. If you are interested in this type of material, I definitely recommend it, but I would suggest you read it rather than listen.
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- Auslander
- 02-13-24
Historical Lessons
Coupled with books like:
The History of Centralized Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind
The House of Rothschild
You see a deeper perspective of the current economical environment that has been building (or culminating) to this point since the late 1800s.
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