The cash nexus : money and power in the modern world, 1700-2000 / Niall Ferguson

London : Allen Lane, 2001. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; xix, 552 p. ; 24 cm. Notes; Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents; The rise and fall of the warfare state -- Hateful taxes -- The commons and the castle: representation and administration -- Mountains of the moon: public debts -- The money printers: default and debasement -- Of interest -- Dead weights and tax-eaters: the social history of finance -- The myth of the feelgood factor -- The Silverbridge syndrome: electoral economics -- Masters and plankton: financial globalization -- Golden fetters, paper chains: international monetary regimes -- The American wave: democracy's flow and ebb -- Fractured unities -- Understretch: the limits of economic power. Summary; Following the international success of his iconoclastic ""The Pity of War"", Niall Ferguson now takes on the history of money -""the sinews of war"" - and power. Throughout modern history, the way states have managed their money has been crucial to their survival and success. It has been finance as much as firepower that has decided the fates of nations in the supreme test of war. And war has been the principal engine of financial innovation. Our lives today are still dominated by the institutions of the warfare state: income tax, parliaments, national debts, central banks and even stock markets. The cash nexus is the crucial point where money and power meet. But does money make the political world go round? Does the success of democracy depend on economic growth? Does victory always go to the richest of the great powers? Or are financial markets the true ""masters"" of the modern world? With the analytical boldness and the grasp of dazzling detail for which he is now famous, Ferguson offers a fascinating account of the evolution of today's economic and political landscape, from ""sleaze"" to the single currency. Far from being driven by iron economic laws, he argues, modern history is the product of unpredictable political conflicts; and it is their impact on volatile markets that can make or break an empire. A ""tour de force"" across three centuries, ""The Cash Nexus"" should transform our understanding of political economy today. Subjects; Money � History. Monetary policy � History. Economic history. History, Modern. Money � Political aspects. Finance, Public. Social sciences. Capital. Capitalism. Financial Systems. Economics. Power (Social sciences). Dates covered: 1700-2000. Economic history ; Monetary economics. c 1700 to c 1800 ; c 1800 to c 1900. c 1900 - c 1914. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History. BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Money & Monetary Policy. Money ; History ; History, Modern.