Trade World
The Ties That Bound Our Past and Could Unravel Our Future – The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
From the award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of Material World, a story that will take you from ancient civilizations, empire and globalisation through to the most influential geopolitical issue of our times.
The story of trade is the story of humanity. From the copper in Mesopotamian ploughs to the silicon atoms within the chip inside your smartphone, intricate global trading networks have evolved over millennia to fulfil the distinctly human desire to buy and sell.
Today, the volume of trade bestriding the planet is unprecedented. Yet, as fractures in the global order emerge – from an era of globalisation and untrammelled flows of goods and money to a new world of restrictions, intervention and, possibly, war – understanding this fundamental shift to the dominant economic consensus is more important than ever.
Ed Conway tells this extraordinary story through these three commonplace products – bread, cloth and cars. With a compelling blend of economic history and first-hand access to key figures and institutions, he takes us from policy treaties to ground level to show us the people who make, ship and sometimes smuggle the products we buy on a daily basis.
Discover the hidden, shifting trade world behind everything you see around you.
Customer Reviews
Another gem from Mr Conwsy
The author is a British journalist, whose last book Material World (2023) was about the substances that “built our world and will shape our future.” Those substances, according to Mr C, are sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. The book was a gem.
His subject this time is trade, which he contends is “the story of humanity.” He makes his case in similar fashion to Material World by examining three commonly traded items — bread, cloth, and cars — in detail, combining economic history with portraits of key individuals in clear, crisp, well-referenced prose that is both educational and thoroughly engaging.