Niall Ferguson is a distinguished historian whose work delves into global history, with a particular focus on economic and financial forces. He leverages his extensive knowledge to analyze contemporary world challenges and trends, connecting pivotal historical events to their long-term consequences. Ferguson's writing is characterized by its exploration of key moments and influential figures that have shaped the modern world. His narratives offer profound insights into the intricate relationships between power, finance, and societal evolution, providing readers with a fresh perspective on the present through the lens of the past.
High Financier In this pathbreaking new biography, based on more than 10,000 hitherto unavailable letters and diary entries, bestselling author Ferguson returns to his roots as a financial historian to tell the story of legendary financier Siegmund Warburg. Full description
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 Kennedy to Obama, Kissinger has also attracted immense hostility from critics who have cast him as an amoral Machiavellian - the ultimate cold-blooded 'realist'. Niall Ferguson has created an extraordinary panorama of Kissinger's world, and a paradigm-shifting reappraisal of the man. Only through knowledge of Kissinger's early life can we understand his debt to the philosophy of idealism. And only by tracing his rise, fall and revival as an adviser to John F. Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller and, finally, Richard Nixon can we appreciate the magnitude of his contribution to the theory of diplomacy, grand strategy and nuclear deterrence
The definitive biography of Henry Kissinger, based on unprecedented access to his private papers. No American statesman has been as revered or as reviled as Henry Kissinger
Ferguson reexamines the war, especially Britain's role, and takes issue with some long held beliefs
The world at the beginning of the 20th century seemed for most of its inhabitants stable and relatively benign. Globalizing, booming economies married to technological breakthroughs seemed to promise a better world for most people. Instead, the 20th century proved to be overwhelmingly the most violent, frightening and brutalized in history with fanatical, often genocidal warfare engulfing most societies between the outbreak of the First World War and the end of the Cold War. What went wrong? How did we do this to ourselves? The War of the World comes up with compelling, fascinating answers. It is Niall Ferguson's masterpiece.
How Britain made the modern world
Niall Ferguson recreates the excitement, brutality and adventure of the British Empire, showing on a vast canvas how the British Empire in the 19th century spearheaded real globalization with steampower, telegraphs, guns, engineers, missionaries and millions of settlers.
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 finance is the foundation of all human progress and the lifeblood of history. From the cash injection that funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that sparked the French Revolution, from the bonds that fuelled Britain`s war effort to the Wall Street Crash and today`s meltdown, this is the story of boom and bust as it`s never been told before. Whether you`re scraping by or rolling in it, there`s no better time to understand the ascent of money.
In the sweep of human history, the European Union stands out as one of humankind's most ambitious endeavors. It encompasses half a billion people, twenty-seven member states, twenty-three languages, and an economy valued at over $15 trillion. Modern Europe's stunning achievements aside, its sovereign debt crisis has shaken the world's largest political and economic union to its core. Can the federal institutions and shared values of Europeans meet the challenges of debt crisis that are as much political as economic? Or, are Europe's current woes indicative of a series of deep structural faults that will doom the European Union to breakup and failure? In this edition of the Munk Debates — Canada's premier international debate series — former EU commissioner Lord Peter Mandelson, French-German EU parliament leader of the Greens, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German Euro skeptic and bestselling author Josef Joffe, and Scottish historian, Niall Ferguson debate one of the most pressing issues of our day: has the great European experiment failed? This electrifying debate featuring some of Europe's most outspoken parliamentary figures and academics is guaranteed to be an unforgettable and riveting verbal sparring match on the question that will determine the future of world's economy.
The Mythology surrounding the Rothschilds' wealth and power is two centuries old. Now the historical reality, long buried in the bank's archives, is revealed for the first time by Oxford historian and bestselling author Niall Ferguson in this definitive account of a legendary banking dynasty's rise to power.
The First World War killed around eight million men and bled Europe dry. Was the sacrifice worth it? Was it all really an inevitable cataclysm and were the Germans a genuine threat? Was the war, as is often asserted, greeted with popular enthusiasm? Why did men keep on fighting when conditions were so wretched? This title deals with questions.
From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower “A dazzling history of Western ideas.” —The Economist “Mr. Ferguson tells his story with characteristic verve and an eye for the felicitous phrase.” —Wall Street Journal “[W]ritten with vitality and verve . . . a tour de force.” —Boston Globe Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.
Be it resolved, the liberal international order is over... Since the end of World War II, global affairs have been shaped by three broad trends: the increasing free movement of people and goods, international rules setting, and a broad appreciation of the mutual benefits of a more interconnected, interdependent world. Together these factors defined the liberal international order and sustained an era of rising global prosperity and declining international conflict. But is this order now being supplanted by a new global reality; one defined by the assertion of national borders, national interests and protectionist trade polices? More fundamentally, is liberal internationalism a historical aberration; the product of a unique set of forces that are now in retreat? Or, can it survive these challenges and remain the defining rules-based system of the future? The twentieth semi-annual Munk Debate, held on April 28th, 2017, pits prominent historian Niall Ferguson against CNN's Fareed Zakaria to debate the future of liberal internationalism.
On June 17, 2011, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and CNN's Fareed Zakaria squared off against leading historian Niall Ferguson and world-renowned Chinese economist David Daokui Li to debate the biggest geopolitical issue of our time: Does the 21st century belong to China?
Disasters are inherently unpredictable, and pandemics, like earthquakes and financial crises, do not follow historical patterns that could help us anticipate them. When disaster strikes, we should be better prepared than past societies, armed with scientific knowledge. However, many developed countries mishandled their responses to a new pathogen from China. While poor leadership, particularly among populist rulers, is often blamed, the COVID-19 crisis revealed deeper issues within the administrative state and economic elites, who had become shortsighted over time. The questions arise: why were warnings from experts ignored for so long, and why did only some nations learn from past outbreaks like SARS and MERS? The reliance on 'the science' often proved to be misguided. Drawing from history, economics, and network science, this work serves as a global analysis of the pandemic year. Niall Ferguson examines the underlying pathologies that have plagued societies, from imperial arrogance to bureaucratic inefficiency and online divisions. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a critical failure for many countries, emphasizing the need to learn from history to prevent a decline that could become irreversible.
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. This extract has been specially selected and adapted from Ferguson's bestselling The Pity of War (1998), a radical reassessment of the First World War that exploded many myths surrounding the conflict.
What if Britain had stayed out of the First World War? What if Germany had won the Second? Historians have traditionally refused to ask questions of the past, preferring to assume that whatever happened was inevitable. But Virtual History challenges this complacency as leading historians apply "counterfactual" arguments to decisive moments in modern history.
Disasters are inherently unpredictable, and pandemics, like other crises, do not follow historical patterns that could help us anticipate them. When disasters occur, we should be better prepared than past societies, thanks to advancements in science. However, the responses of many developed nations to a new pathogen from China were severely mishandled. While poor leadership is an easy scapegoat, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed deeper issues within the administrative state and economic elites, who had become shortsighted over many years. Questions arise about why warnings were ignored and why only a few nations learned from previous outbreaks like SARS and MERS. The appeal to "the science" often devolved into mere wishful thinking. Drawing on history, economics, public health, and network science, this analysis serves as a global examination of the pandemic's impact. The author, Niall Ferguson, explores the pathologies that have caused significant harm, including imperial hubris and bureaucratic inefficiency. COVID-19 exposed failures that must prompt countries to learn from history to avoid the risk of irreversible decline.
'The most brilliant historian of his generation' The Times Most history is hierarchical- it's about popes, presidents, and prime ministers. But what if that's simply because they create the historical archives? What if we are missing equally powerful but less visible networks - leaving them to the conspiracy theorists, with their dreams of all-powerful Illuminati? The twenty-first century has been hailed as the Networked Age. But in The Square and the Tower Niall Ferguson argues that social networks are nothing new. From the printers and preachers who made the Reformation to the freemasons who led the American Revolution, it was the networkers who disrupted the old order of popes and kings. Far from being novel, our era is the Second Networked Age, with the computer in the role of the printing press. But networks have a dark side, prone to clustering, contagions, and even outages. And the conflicts of the past already have unnerving parallels today, in the time of Facebook, Islamic State and Trumpworld.
Is America the new world empire? Presidents from Woodrow Wilson to George W Bush may have denied it but, as Niall Ferguson's brilliant and provocative book shows, the US is in many ways the greatest imperial power of all time. What's more, it always has been an empire, expanding westwards throughout the nineteenth century and rising to global dominance in the twentieth. But is today's American colossus really equipped to play Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders? The United States, Ferguson reveals, is an empire running on empty, weakened by chronic deficits of money, manpower and political will. When the New Rome falls, he warns, its collapse may well come from within.
The decline of the West is something that has long been prophesied. Symptoms of decline are all around us: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations, anti-social behaviour. But what is the cause? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions - the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail - are degenerating. Representative government, the free market, the rule of law and civil society: these were the four pillars of Western societies, which set them on the path to global dominance after around 1500. In our time, however, these institutions have deteriorated. Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping IOUs on our children and grandchildren. Our markets are distorted by over-complex regulations. The rule of law has metamorphosed into the rule of lawyers. And civil society has become uncivil society. While the Arab world struggles to adopt democracy, and while China struggles to move from economic liberalization to the rule of law, Europeans and Americans alike are frittering away the institutional inheritance of centuries. To arrest the degeneration of the West, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform. This book is based on Niall Ferguson's BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures, which were broadcast under the title 'The Rule of Law and Its Enemies'.
Kto pociąga za sznurki, z kim spiskuje i jak zyskuje władzę? Niall Ferguson, jeden z najsławniejszych historyków świata, profesor Uniwersytetów Harvarda, Oxfordu i Stanforda, demaskuje hierarchie i sieci, które wpływają na losy świata Dzięki wszechstronnemu i mistrzowsko napisanemu dziełu autora bestsellerowej Potęgi pieniądza dowiecie się, co łączy hiszpańskich konkwistadorów, bankierów z rodu Rothschildów, dawne żydowskie elity finansowe, inteligencję z czasów zimnej wojny, fundusze George’a Sorosa i współczesnych islamskich terrorystów. To książka, która jako pierwsza oddaje należne miejsce sieciom powiązań – powszechnej od stuleci i zyskującej na popularności dzięki nowym technologiom formie organizowania się, niedocenianej dotąd przez historyczne źródła.
Kto pociąga za sznurki, z kim spiskuje i jak zyskuje władzę? Niall Ferguson, jeden z najsławniejszych historyków świata, profesor Uniwersytetów Harvarda, Oxfordu i Stanforda, demaskuje hierarchie i sieci, które wpływają na losy świata Dzięki wszechstronnemu i mistrzowsko napisanemu dziełu autora bestsellerowej Potęgi pieniądza dowiecie się, co łączy hiszpańskich konkwistadorów, bankierów z rodu Rothschildów, dawne żydowskie elity finansowe, inteligencję z czasów zimnej wojny, fundusze George’a Sorosa i współczesnych islamskich terrorystów. To książka, która jako pierwsza oddaje należne miejsce sieciom powiązań – powszechnej od stuleci i zyskującej na popularności dzięki nowym technologiom formie organizowania się, niedocenianej dotąd przez historyczne źródła.
Niall Ferguson hat als erster Historiker die verschlüsselte Privatkorrespondenz der Rothschilds im 19. Jahrhundert ausgewertet. Er erweckt ihre Welt mit meisterhafter Geschichtsschreibung zum Leben, einschließlich ihrer Visionen, Pläne, Freundschaften, Feindschaften und Erfolge.
Как удалось обитателям дождливого островка в Северной Атлантике построить, а после потерять империю, над которой "не заходило солнце"? Что было целью колониальной политики британцев: грабеж — либо "экспорт свободы и порядка"? Есть ли в XXI веке спрос на империализм? Провокационная книга Ниала Фергюсона повествует о почти трехвековом мировом владычестве англичан и его плодах, сладких и горьких.
Niall Ferguson vs. Fareed Zakaria
Seit dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs prägte eine zunehmend freiheitliche Weltordnung das politische Geschehen und ermöglichte eine Ära wachsenden globalen Wohlstands und abnehmender internationaler Konflikte. Zum ersten Mal seit dieser letzten Kriegsgeneration erschüttert uns eine neue globale Realität, die nicht mehr durch feste Grenzen, klare nationale Interessen und gesicherte Handelspolitik definiert ist. Der renommierte Geschichtsprofessor Niall Ferguson und der einflussreiche Politikberater Fareed Zakaria loten aus, wer die eigentlichen Nutznießer der Globalisierung sind und zeichnen zwei grundverschiedene Szenarien – eine aufschlussreiche und zukunftsweisende Debatte.
Die erste große historisch-politische Gesamtdeutung nach der Epochenzäsur 1989 beschreibt die künftige Rollenverteilung von Politik und Wirtschaft in der Demokratie. Der freie Markt gilt vielfach als die einzige Möglichkeit, politische und soziale Spannungen abzubauen, Wohlstand für alle zu fördern und demokratische Stabilität zu erreichen. Regiert also tatsächlich das Geld die Welt? Analytisch und scharfsinnig packt Niall Ferguson nach seiner provokanten Studie über den Ersten Weltkrieg erneut ein heißes Eisen an. Vor dem Hintergrund der Geschichte der letzten beiden Jahrhunderte kommt er zu einem überraschenden und provozierenden Urteil: Weder garantiert eine blühende Wirtschaft ein konfliktfreies Zusammenleben noch waren ökonomische Faktoren wirklich entscheidend für den Gang der Ereignisse. Wichtiger denn je ist die Politik, die ihren Einfluss zurückerobern muss, um zukünftige Gefahren für die Demokratie abzuwehren.
Historické alternativy Historické hypotézy - jak by se dějiny vyvíjely, kdyby určité historické události dopadly jinak než ve skutečnosti. Na publikaci se podílelo několik autorů, většinou historiků, a celá představuje práci z oblasti "alternativní historie", dnes populárního vědního oboru. Jak sám název napovídá, jedná se o historické hypotézy, vývody. Autoři se zamýšlejí nad tím, kam by se cesta lidstva ubírala, kdyby historické události dopadly jinak, než opravdu dopadly, v duchu "co kdyby". Autoři této knihy domýšlejí např. vývoj Anglie bez Cromwella, vývoj Ameriky bez války za nezávislost či vývoj Ruska bez Gorbačova. Kniha přináší celkem devět historických zamyšlení nad konkrétními událostmi.
Britský historik zkoumá politickou roli Spojených států amerických v současném světě a mocenský zrod tohoto světového impéria v 19. a 20. stol. Autor se domnívá, že Spojené státy sice představují dominantní impérium současného světa, avšak jejich imperiální politika je velice neefektivní. Tato velmoc by svoji mocenskou pozici měla nejenom přiznat, ale především by se měla poučit u impéria viktoriánské Británie, jež bylo nejenom výrazně efektivnější, ale světu výrazně prospělo. Spojené státy by se měly stát politickým garantem ekonomické globalizace, převzít z důvodu vlastní bezpečnosti i z čirého altruismu roli liberálního impéria. Dosáhnout tohoto cíle však mohou jedině cestou hlubokých změn v ekonomické struktuře, sociálním uspořádání a politické kultuře. Spojené státy americké by se o své impérium měly začít odpovědněji starat.
Pojednání přibližuje příčiny i samotný průběh 1. světové války a naznačuje její důsledky. Autor zpochybňuje tradiční výklad a vžité představy o válce. Tento globální válečný konflikt hodnotí autor především z hlediska britských mocenských zájmů a cílů. Hlavní podíl na vzniku 1.světové války měla, podle něj, Velká Británie, která podcenila německý potenciál. Z kontinentálního konfliktu se stala válka světová, neboť Velká Británie si počínala velice nekvalifikovaně, což si vyžádalo zásah Spojených států amerických. K válce tak došlo na základě chybných rozhodnutí vedoucích činitelů! Celý tento válečný konflikt se zrodil z osobní pošetilosti, jež měla katastrofální následky!
Katastrofy jsou ze své podstaty těžko předvídatelné. Neexistuje žádný historický cyklus, který by nám pomohl předvídat příští pandemie, zemětřesení, požáry, finanční krize nebo války. Když však katastrofa udeří, měli bychom být připraveni lépe než Římané, když vybuchl Vesuv,nebo středověcí Italové, když udeřila černá smrt. Koneckonců máme na své straně vědu. Přesto byla v roce 2020 reakce mnoha vyspělých zemí na nový virus z Číny špatně zvládnutá. Proč? Proč se jen několik asijských zemí poučilo ze SARS a MERS? Autor tvrdí, že pandemie odhalila hlubší patologie – patologie, které byly patrné již v našich reakcích na dřívější katastrofy. Kniha čerpá z mnoha oborů, včetně ekonomie, kliodynamiky a vědy o sítích, a nabízí nejen historii, ale i obecnou teorii katastrof a ukazuje, proč se naše stále byrokratičtější a složitější systémy s nimi vyrovnávají čím dál hůře.
