RECOMMENDED READING

These are my favorite books on political/economy and economic history. I realize it is a long list, so I have highlighted six for priority study. I believe these six are essential for an understanding of contemporary political/economic conditions. Perhaps the comment will provide ideas for other choices. Some of the most important books are far down in the list now. Taken together, I believe these studies will show that the popular conception of a 'free market' is a myth, that there is always a tight inter-relationship between politics and economics and that the 'welfare state' originated by Bismarck for political purposes in Germany is now reaching its culmination in chaos and collapse. I will continue to add more references, mainly focused on current events and concepts, but the literature is growing rapidly.` I am including also some especially relevant articles from the press. Virtually every issue of Barron's, The Economist, and the Wall Street Journal contain essays and reports relevant to the current crisis - either explanations of what is happening or denials that anything serious is coming.
Author	Title	Publisher	Subject	Comment
Didier Sornette	Why Stock Markets Crash: Critical Events in Complex Financial Systems	Princeton Univ. Press, 2013, 421 pgd., references	Lots of math., facts and analysis of markets	The book is recommended by John Mauldin. It is a difficult read with graphs and math formulae.
George Gilder	Knowledge and Power: The Information Theory of Capitalism and How it is Revolutionizing our World	Regnery Publishing, NY., 2013, 348 pgs., end notes, glossary	The 'new economics' based on information theory	The author lays out his agenda for what the country needs.
Niall Ferguson	The Great Degeneration	Penguin Press, NY., 2013, 174 pgs., end notes	The decay of Western societies	Use the link to read more. A historian's look at the change in Western Societies from expansionary to static due to changes in political institutions. The author states that "This book is about the causes of our stationary state. It is inspired by Smith's insight that both stagnation and growth are in large measure the results of 'laws and institutions.' It is our laws and institutions that are the problem. The Great Recession is merely a symptom of a more profound Great Degeneration." He gives as the 'over-arching question today 'what exactly has gone wrong in the Western World in our time? And his book is about answering that question. It should be studied along with several of the references he mentioned and several others in my list. Naturally both his assessment of the very idea that the West ever was superior and his views on the 'west and the rest' today are anathema to the political left.
Niall Ferguson	Colossus: The Price of America's Empire	Penguin Press, NY., 2004 - 384 pgs., extensive index, bibliography, end notes, appendix	The United States has always been an 'empire' and for the good. It should not be reluctant now.	The U.S. 'empire' has been a significant force for international good -it should continue now - but its expenditures on internal 'welfare' are creating a very dangerous financial disaster. Ferguson comments ' The Americans want security - but they want Social Security more than national security.' The author's dsicussion of what was current in 2004r especially in the Middle East is now outdated. Some of his ideas did not take place. But his early warning of to coming financial- monetary disaster due to USG profligate welfare spending and transfer was correct and the situation is much worse now.
David Landes, Joel Moryr and William Balmol, eds.,	The Intevention of Enterprise: Entrepreneurship from Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Times	Princeton Univ. Press, 2010, 566 pgs., index, extensive references, notes, tables	Economic history	The thesis is that entrepreneurship is not only a modern phenomena but existred from ancient times.
Douglas W. Hubbard	The Failure of Risk Management: Why it's Broken and How to Fix it	John Wiley & Sons, NY., 2009, 281 pgs., index, tables	Technical analysis of the science of risk management	Chapters on the meaning of 'risk' and the history of its study, why current methods fail, and chapters describing how to 'fix it' using more elaborate models.
Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane	Balance: The Economics of Great Powers from Ancient Rome to Modern America	Simon & Schuster ,NY., 2013, 351 pgs. index, endnotes, bibliography,	Economic History
Lawrence H. White	The Clash of Economic Ideas: The Great Policy Debates andExperiments of the Last Hundred Years	Cambridge Univ Press, NY., 2012, 428 pgs., index, footnotes	Development of Economic Theory
John Mauldin and Jonathan Tepper	Endgame: The end of the Debt Supercycle and how it Changes Everything	John Wiley Sons, NY. 2011, 318 pgs., index, notes, diagrams	Investment advice based on macroeconomic appraisal of recent changes
John Mauldin and Jonathan Tepper	Code Red: How to Protect our Savings from the Coming Crisis	John Wiley Sons, NY., 2013, 354 pgs., index, endnotes	Predictions at macroeconomic level of coming financial problem	The authors also provide general thoughts on alternative investment strategies
Alan Greenspan	The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting	Penguin Press, NYC., 2013, index, endnotes, appendix, graphs and tables	Part a personal memoir, part an excuse for not predicting market crashes, part lessons in basic economics	Use the link to read more.
Joseph A. Tainter	The Collapse of Complex Societies	Cambridge univ Press, 1988, index, references	An archeologist describes the collapse of ancient societies and some modern counterparts
Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner	Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption led to Economic Armageddon	Times Books, NY, 2011, 331 pgs., index	The financial crisis of 2008 and who was responsible for it
Peter D. Schiff	The Real Crash, How to save yourself and your country	St. Martin's Press, NY., 2012, 335 pgs., few footnotes	Investment advice - Government generated debt will create a greater financial disaster
J. Anthony Boeckh	The Great Reflation: How Investors can profit from the New World of Money	John Wiley Sons, NY., 2010, index, diagrams	Investment advice - governments are desperately trying to create inflation to solve their debt problems
John Tomasi	Free Market Fairness	Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton N.J., 2012 212 pgs.,	An attempt to square a circle, find a possible middle ground betweeen 'free market economics' and 'social fairness' political theory
Rev. Robert Sirico	Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for A free Economy	Regenry, Wash. D.C., 20121, 213 pgs., select reading	How and why the Judeo-Christian world view created freedom and economic liberty tied to public morality
Daniel Stedman Jones	Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics	Princeton Univ. Press, 2012, 418 pgs., endnotes	An attack on 'neoliberal' politics - claimed to be a result of Hayekian economics - that caused the financial crash - support for Keynesian economics
John Horvati	Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society	York Press, Hannover Pa. 2013, index, bibliography, footnotes, illustrations	Coins the term "Frenetic Intemperance" as the fundamental cause of America's political and economic crisis
David Graeber	Debt: The First 5,000 Years	Melvile House, Brooklyn, NY., 2011, 534 pgs., massive bibliography, index, footnotes	An anarchist anthropologist's account of debt and its impact on all social relations
Anat Admati and Martin Hellwig	The Banker's New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It	Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2013, 398 pgs., index, extensive bibliography, endnotes	The fundamental problem is the flawed structure of the modern banking system
Alan Ryan	On Politics :A History of Political Thought	W. W. Norton, N.Y., 2012, 2 vol	Intellectual history -
Michael K. Salemi	Money and Banking: What Everyone Should Know	The Great Courses, Chantilly, Virginia, 2012	36 Lectures on DVD with Transcript
Jerry. Z. Muller	Thinking about Capitalism	The Great Courses, Chantilly Virginia, 2008	36t Lectures on DVD with Transcript
Nicholas Wapshoot	Keynes - Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics	W. W. Norton, NYU., 2011	History of economic theory
Dambisa Moyo	How the West Was Lost: 'Fifty Years of Economic Folly - and the Stark Choices Ahead	Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NYC, 2011, 226 pgs., index, bibliography, notes,	Polemic castigating the 'West' for the world's economic and fiscal evils.	This comment on page 173 is a clear summary of the author's views. "For the past 500 years, Western economic dominance has been a story of ruthlessness and self-interest. Its military power, its global hold, its influence on the world, have been the history of its trade, or rather the history of its single-minded ability to extra from other countries, other constinents, other peoples, the material, land and people that would drive its economy forward - and in other words make them rich."
David Smick	The World is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy	Penguin Group NY., 2008, index, bibliography. The Mortgage Crisis was only the Beginning.	The Mortgage Cisis was only the Beginning of current and future fiscal catastrophy	Use the link to read more. The title is a response to Thomas Friedman's book The World Is Flat: A brief History of the Twenty-first Century. The author's central theme is that we are now in a truly global economy - a multinational economy created by globalization. The book is the opposite of Bailout Nation and in another way of In FED we trust.The author's thesis is that the globalization of the world economy during past 25-30 years is responsible for the massive gains in wealth all around - for the lifting out of poverty of billions of people, but also has created new problems.
David Wessel	In FED we Trust: Ben Bernanke's war on the Great Panic: How the Federal Reserve became the Fourth Branch of Government
Stephen King	When the Money Runs Out: The End of Western Affluence	Yale Univ Press, New haven, 2013, 287 pgs., index, bibliography, end notes.	Economic Theory, analysis of the financial crisis of 2007-08
James Rickards	Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis	Portfolio, Penguin, NY., 2011, 296 pgs., index, selected bibliography, endnotes.	Economic theory, analysis of the credit crisis of 2007-08.	Warning on what is coming if and when the nation states resort to competitive depreciations of their currencies
Kevin D. Williamson	The End is Near and its going to be Awesome: How Going Broke will Leave American Richer, Happier, and More Secure	Broadside Books, NY., 2013, 228 pgs., index	Economic theory, analysis of financial crisis and prediction of future economy	The author writes from a strong libertarian philosophy. His data and critique of the current fiscal and monetary situation is well based. His opinion is that the 'welfare states' simply cannot fulfill their promises. In my opinion he is much too optomistic about what will happen with the publics realize this fact.
David A Stockman	The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America	Public Affairs, NY., 2013, 742 pgs., index	Narrative of the events and economic theories that led to the financial crisis of 2007.	Getting even with President Reagan
Peter Watson	The Modern Mind: An intellectual History of the 20th Century	Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2000, 847 pgs., index, endnotes,	Chronological narrative of the development of all aspects of intellectual life	A tour de force - including everything from art and anthropology to zoology
Paul Krugman	The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008	W. W. Norton Co, NY., 2009, 191 pgs., revision of the1999 edition	Economic theory, comment and analysis of the economic crisis of 2007-2008	The author is a major acolyte of Lord Keynes whom he extols in the last chapter. He advocated Keynesian 'demand side' economics - centered on perpetual expansion of government 'stimulus' via spending based on increased debt. He writes well and presents clear description of
Stephen Leeb	Game Over: How you can Prosper in a Shattered Economy	Business Plus, NY., 2009, 244 pgs., index	Investment advice - predictions on future economy	The author believes in all the doom ideas about 'peak oil', 'peak resources', and advocates investing on gold. Written in 2009, the book misses completely what took place by 2013. The tone is hyper-alarm. Worth a read to learn how wrong economists can be even in the short run.
David C. Patterson	"The Roads to Fiscal Ruin"	Barron'sAugust 23, 2010 pg 33	analysis of the US fiscal debt bomb with examples from history	The author cites historical examples of the collapse of empires and governments through failure to eliminate massive debt. He notes, "We are just where those others were: captive to entrenched special interests that will brook no change to their positions, whatever the long-term danger." The danger he notes is not simply fiscal but of social revolution.
Justin Fox	The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street	Harper Collins, NY, 2009, 382 pgs., index, notes, Cast of Characters	economics, financial crisis	Dissects and skewers Berton Makliel and the other 'rational market' and Modern Portfolio Theory applogists.
Hunter Lewis	Where Keynes Went Wrong: and why World Governments keep creating inflation, bubbles, and busts.	Axios Press, Mt. Jackson VA. 2009, 384 pgs. extensive notes, index	economics - expose of the real Keynes and his agenda	This is a very important book and one largely ignored because it exposes Keynes as a charlatan and montebank. The author takes extensive exact quotations from Keynes many books, articles and speeches and shows their falicies. Moreover, he shows Keynes himself switched his whole economic philosophy after World War I. The author does not discuss sufficiently the part of his book title about WHY governments are doing as he notes. But he shows that Keynes created his economic theories because they are popular with politicians as a convenient basis for what they want to do. Among Keynes' fallacious concepts were (are) that all interest rates should be near zero and that governments should foster 'permanent boom' times.
Victor Sperandeo	"The Lessons of History: When governments cannot borrow, hyperinflation is frequently the result"	Barron's, December 20, 2010, pg 55	economic history applied to current monetary policy	The author of the must-read Crashmaker comes through with a powerful analysis of the real source of hyperinflation - it has nothing to do with the official theories about inflation. In fact hyperinflation and inflation are not the same. The Bernanke FED and European central bank are claiming that their massive expansion of real money supply won't be 'inflationary' and it may not be, but it is a very likely cause of a coming hyperinflation when they run out of lenders willing to give more to governments. We face a solvency crisis, not a liquidity crisis. Read this along with "This Time is Different'.
Martin Jacques	When China Rules the World: The end of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order	The Penguin Press, NY. 550 pgs., index, bibliography, notes	economics, world politics, futurististics	An excellent discussion with copious detail by a British author who has lived in China for years. But as much as he knows about China he knows little about the United States. The prediction found in the title and throughout the analysis is based on the author's radical leftist view of the evil of capitalism and the United States in particular (with United Kingdom a close second). He clearly relishes the downfall of these "predatory" societies. Nevertheless the book is valuable reading on the current and future growth of China and its world power.
Clyde Prestowitz	Three Billion New Capitalists: The great shift of wealth and power to the East.	Basic Books, NY., 2005, 320 pgs, index, recommended reading	economics, world politics, China and India	The title describes the author's thesis. His entire tone and approach is much more even and objective than that of Martin Jacques.
Harry S. Dent, Jr.	The Great Depression Ahead: How to prosper in the crash following the greatest boom in history.	The Free Press, NY., 2008, 376 pgs, index	investment advice, economics	The author is a perma-bear - who has been predicting doom for years.
David Wiedemer, Robert Wiedemer, Cindy Spitzer	Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown	John Wiley & Sons, NY,, 2010, 273 pgs., index, bibliography	economics, financial crisis	This is an important book with a message that should be widely studied. Unfortunately, it is also badly flawed. The authors consume far too much space in self-congratulation on their own claim to unique brilliance. They claim to be the only analysts who predicted the housing and financial crises of 2007-09 and who know about the coming 'meltdown. But many others, including some listed here also made the same predicions. For instance, they claim others believe ALL debt is 'bad' (not true) but they are correct in claiming that 'smart' debt is good but 'dumb' debt is bad. Well, how brilliant can that be? Actually it is meaningless. The correct idea is that debt created in the course of borrowing existing funds to finance investment having the purpose of future growth is 'good'. But debt created by creating new money for the purpose of consumption is what is 'bad'. The authors' thesis, that the U.S. is in a 'bubble' economy is correct. They describe the housing and financial bubbles and predict the coming collapse of the world financial system. But they do not address the long-term historical, political, causes of this situation.
Editorial staff	"The World turned upside down: A special report on innovation in emerging markets"	Economist, April 17, 2010 pgs 11-18.	global economics	A typically valuable special report. The authors describe how innovative companies in 'emerging market' countries are leading the world into future economic expansion
Editorial Staff	"Briefing Greece's sovereign-debt crisis	Economist, April 17, 2010, pgs 78-82	economics, financial affairs, current affairs,	A report on what is happening in Greece and the reponses of the European community.
Editorial Staff	"They might be giants"	Economist, May 15, 2010, pgs 3 -20	global economics, finances	A valuable report on the condition and future of the banking system in 'emerging market' countries. Special attention is given to banks in China, India, Brazil and Russia.
John Grimond	"For want of a drink: A special report on water"	Economist, May 22, 2010, pgs. 3-20	economics	An extensive, detailed report on the dangerous shortage of water, what is being done and some ideas about what should be done to aleviate this.
Robert J. Samuelson	"The Welfare State's death spiral"	Washington Post, May 10, 2010	public policy, economics	Amazing at is seems, the Washington Post published this OP-ed article by one of its standard contributors. Samuelson ( who is a well-know left wing economist) is admitting what I have been saying for years - namely that the welfare state cannot pay for its promised benefits.
Christopher Horner	Power Grab: How Obama's Green Policies will steal our freedom and bankrupt America	Regnery Publishing, NY., 2010, 396 pgs. extensive notes, index	political/economy - the multi-faceted radical left attack on the 'commanding heights;	The author identifies the host of radical leftist revolutionaries who have used the 'green' 'environmental' movement as replacement for Marx's proletariat. Under cover of the various environmental dangers including 'global warming' they are seeking the socialist agenda. He identifies the key players Obama has brought into power in the executive branch.
Staff	"The gods strike back: Special Report on Financial Risk"	The Economist, Feb 13th-19th 2010	economics, financial crisis	An excellent summary of what happened, an analysis of causes and results, and recommendations for banking and fianancial industry 'reforms'. The title is a play on Bernstein book listed below.
Tad DeHaven	"Five decades of failure are enough: Budget-busting waste and economy-strangling red tape"	Washington Times, Wed, Feb 10, 2010, pg B3	housing and credit crisis,	The author names names - Samuel Pierce, Alphonso Jackson, Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo - all government officials who promoted the welfare state program to make 'affordable housing' an entitlement via programs to force subsidies for home ownership. HUD, FHA, and the GSE's were all at the center of the policy. Moreover, despite the collapse the government is doing its best to continue the policy.
Peter Schweizer	Architects of Ruin: How Big Government Liberals Wrecked the Global Economy - and How they will do it again if no one stops them	Harper, NY., 2009, 217 pgs, notes, index	fianancial failures, government policy	This book should be read along with Thomas Sowell's The Housing Boom and Bust. Both show that the huge bubble in house prices and subsequent crash was the result of government insistence on making 'affordable housing' an expanded entitlement. Mr. Schweizer names names such as Barny Frank and Christopher Dodd, Andrew Cuomo and Robert Rubin. He notes the role of ACORN and PUSH. He shows that the effort to blame Wall Street and bankers is a smoke screen to divert attention while the radical politicians continue to demand the dangerous programs be expanded. The subject is focused, but one should note that 'affordable housing' is but one of the three central entitlements the liberals have been pushing for years, the others being socialized health care and higher education.
Amity Shales	"How to Make a Weak Economy Worse"	Wall Street Journal 2 Feb. 2010	government policy, financial failures	Read with Ms. Shales full story published in the forgotten man. Here she compares the record of FDR described in that book with the current policies of President Obama. The result of FDR's policies was to extend and deepen the Depression and the author believes the current policies will have the same result. She notes the political purposes of claimed economic policy such as favortism of labor unions and attacks on business, especially bankers. "FDR's war against business played to the crowd, but it hurt the economy. While monetary policies impeded recovery in the late 1930's it was the administrations' assault on companies and capital that ensured the Depression's duration."
Amity Shales	Coolidge	Harper Collins, NY., 2013, 565 pgs., index, endnotes, sources, illustrations
Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff	This Time it is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly	Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton NJ., 2009, 463 pgs, extensive notes, tables, charts, appendix, index	Financial failures, government debt crises, bank failures	The authors are typical modern economists, using models, econometrics, citing economic theory, and the full suite of economic tools. When I see repeated use of 'problematic' meaning either dangerous or difficult, I see a red flag. But the ordinary reader has to ignore all this stuff written for the professional economist and focus on the message. This is delivered forcefully right in the Preface. "If there is one common theme to the vast range of crises we consider in this book, it is that excessive debt accumulation, whether it be by the government, banks, corporations, or consumers, often poses greater systemic risks than it seems during a boom." The title is a clever play on the too common statement made by the market 'experts' during times leading up to a crash that 'this time it is different', when as the authors demonstrate so fully it never really is. One has to admire them for moving beyond mathematical economics to delve in history - although I believe claiming 'eight centuries' is a stretch when they focus overwhelmingly on the last two centuries. John Mauldin recommended this book highly. There have been favorable reviews in media and more citations coming all the time. They have been speaking at economists' gatherings. The research work is presented in a way favorable for a Nobel Prize.
Peter Bernstein	Against the Gods: The remarkable Story of Risk	John Wiley & Sons, NY., 1996, 383 pgs, index, extensive bibliography, notes on sources.	The history of the concept of 'risk' described through the contributions of many writers.	The book is also highly recommended by John Mauldin. I found it fascinating in its description of the personal role of many individuals. The author provides a brief biography of each of the major contributors whose ideas he describes - from ancient Greeks to the 1960's. Those readers whose interest is in the development of concepts such as probability, game theory, regression to the mean and similar ideas can skip to chapter 15 in which the most modern theories are described. Unfortunately, the content ends in mid-1990's. And as is so unfortunately the case the author follows the current practice of economists in general in ignoring the political half of political-economy. But in doing so he claims approval for the pure mathematical approach to economic analysis.
Thomas Sowell	The Housing Boom and Bust	Basic Books, NY., 2009, 184 pgs., index, sources	A full and revealing description of the real causes of the credit - housing bust of 2006-2008	Once again this distinguished economist cuts through the political smoke screen to describe the role of 40 years or more of American government policy in creating both the underlying basis and the ultimate causes of the collapse in the credit - housing market in the US. The efforts of politicians to shift blame to private bankers and brokers and to claim it is a fault of the 'free market' or 'capitalism' generally are shown to be false. He also returns to the origins and development of the 'Great Depression'. He shows that in that case also it was government interventions which deepened and prolonged the depression. The book is a must read for everyone today.
Christopher Steiner	$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better	Grand Central Publishing, NY., 2009, 274 pgs., index, brief notes	Futurology with a strong emphasis on social commentary	The author accepts the 'peak oil' concept that predicts a major decline on the supply of crude oil world-wide. He cites some studies and data to support this theory. This may or may not be as serious as the author and his sources believe. But what I find offensive is stated right from the book title. The author is strongly in favor of all the vast changes in society which he predicts and is excited that this 'shortage' of oil (gasoline) will force these changes on a reluctant public via government intervention and coercion. These include all the usual mantras of the 'environmentalists'. The book is a 'wake-up call' for anyone who hopes to resist this expansion of government power. To the extent that there will be coming shortfalls in the oil supply we should be investigating ways to overcome this in preserving the best of current conditions, not using it as a wedge and hammer to provide political support for more government power and reduced freedom. But fellow environmental fanatics will love this book.
Thomas Sowell	Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, Third Edition	Basic Books, N.Y., 2007, 626 pgs, notes on sources	economics	A valuable basic text on economics for the general reader. It is focused on countering popular myths and fallacies. But in the first chapter on "what is economics' the author writes "Economics is the study of the use of scarce resources which have alternative uses." I believe this idea needs ammending: "Economics is the non-coercive process whereby scarce resources having alternative uses are allocated to maximize the general good". But "Politics is the coercive process whereby scarce resources having alternative uses are allocate to maximize the outcomes desired by the political authorities." Thus Sowell, in keeping with general studies of economics repeatedly includes examples in which political decisions altered the results that otherwise would have come from pure economic processes, but without calling attention to this.
Henry Hazlitt	The Free Man's Library	D. Van Nostrand Co, NY.,1956, 176 pgs.	libertarian politics and philosophy, economics	I list this short book first as it is an early bibliography of important books that focus on the philosophy of individualism free trade, free enterprise, free markets and individual liberties. From the date the reader can see that it does not include any of the many recent books listed below. Each book has an excellent comment that will enable the reader to select those most relevant to political/economy.
David Hackett Fischer	The Great Wave	Oxford Univ. Press, 1996, 536 pgs, notes, appendices, index	Economic History - Inflation	Fischer was more interested in study of the forces that created the 'great waves' of inflation since the 1200's and their results than in the detailed study of their subsequent deflations and equilibrium periods. Provides the details of economic changes that accompanied the subjects in the Bobbitt and Kennedy books. The author in late 1990's predicted the epochal change in the world from inflation to deflation. The best analysis of the causes of inflationary waves based on history.
Philip Bobbitt	- Shield of Achilles	Random House, NY., 2003, 919 pgs, bibliography, index, notes, paperback and hardback	History of the 'state', warfare and constitutions	Description of the several transformations of the 'state' since its inception around 1500 and the interrelationships between external strategy and internal constitutional changes - He notes the end of the 'nation state - welfare state' in late 1990's and ensuing conflict between three alternatives: entrepreneural, managerial and mercantile states - that we witness today. Study with the Kennedy book.
Paul Kennedy	The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military conflict from 1500 - 2000	Random House, New York, 1987, 677 pgs, notes, bibliography, maps, index	The interrelationship between economic and fiscal strength versus military and strategic power	An excellent narrative of events with analysis of the details of the subject. This should be studied in conjunction with Shield of Achillesand The Great Wave. The author integrates the roles of military technology, organization and tactics with the importance of logistics and behind all else the significance of money and financing in enabling the state to conduct war. Financial crises bring down even the most powerful states. His first major theme is that 'there exists a dynamic for change, driven chiefly by economic and technological developments, which then impact upon social structures, political systems, military power, and the position of individual states and empires". The second theme is that 'this uneven pace of economic growth has had crucial long-term impacts upon the relative military power and strategical position of the members of the states system."
Ludwig von Mises	Human Action: A Treatise on Economics	3rd edition, Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, 1949	Economics and social history	The center piece of the "Austrian School' of economic theory. A field not sufficiently studied, in opposition to Keynsian economic theory. Probably the most important book in this list, but not easily understood.
Ludwig von Mises	Socialism; an Economic and Sociological Analysis	Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 1951, index	Economics and sociology	Devatstating proof of the impossibility of socialist economic theory and practice to achieve its theoretical goals. Very interesting sections on the relationship of Christian teaching to the conflict between private property and socialism. No 'economic 'planner' can obtain sufficient knowledge to create plans for the unknown future.
Ludwig von Mises	Theory and History: An interpretation of social and economic evolution	Arlington House, New York, 1969, 384 pgs, index	philosophy, economics,	Economic philosophy - thoughts on what man can know in social science such as economics and how this differs from physical sciences and metaphysics - discussion on 'value'.
John Mauldin	Bull's Eye Investing: Targeting Real Returns in a Smoke and Mirrors Market	John Wiley and Sons, NY, 2004, 426 pgs., index, appendices	finances and investing	The author publishes an excellent weekly newsletter via Internet. We are in a long term bear market. Mauldin describes the broad trends for the coming decade. The period to 2010 will be much different from the 1980-1990's. Now stock markets have high valuations, interest rates are extremely low, the dollar is declining and there are huge deficits in the foreign trade balance and government debt. This means a secular bear market. In bear markets the 'buy and hold' strategy will not work - one has to focus on absolute returns. The bench mark for judging investments is the money market and success is in beating the return of Treasury bills. One must carefully control risk. Bear markets may last 8 to 17 years. But the general economy will do just fine eventually. His new book will be published shortly.
George Soros	On Globalization,	Public Affairs, NY., 2002, 191pgs., index.	finances and economic policy	The author provides an excellent description of the details of the financial crises of the late 1990's. He brings together the traumatic but separate events that tend to be, if not forgotten, at least thought of in isolation. Taken together, these financial crises and the reponses of governments to them describe what Fischer saw as the final crest of the great wave of the 20th century inflation. Soros also describes in terms of globalization at least a part of the causes of these crises. Unfortunately his prescriptions for increased rather than decreased government intervention and regulation would only shift the outcomes in other directions.
Kenichi Ohmae	The End of the Nation State: The Rise of Regional Economies	The Free Press, NY, 1995, 210 pgs, notes, index	economics	The author's thesis is that the political structure of 'nation states' cannot meet the needs of future society under future economic conditions. The political-economic forces at work have already raised troubling questions about the relevance. He predicts political configurations will shift to match geographic economic optimums. A conclusion similar to Bobbitt's but based on very different assumptions.
Fredrich A. Hayek	- The Constitution of Liberty	Univ. of Chicago Press, Gateway Ed. 1959, 570 pgs, index, footnotes	politics, economics and social organization	This is one of the basic books on liberty (or freedom) versus socialism. The author states that his purpose is to "present an ideal and show how it might be realized". The author writes that the basic principles of western civilization's concept of freedom have been under assault for so many years that the public has even lost understanding due to confusion, despite valiant efforts to clarify the issues. The first part seeks to show why we want liberty and what it does. The second part examines the institutions of Western civilization that were developed to secure individual liberty. The third part tests these principles by applying them to current critical public social and economic issues.
Fredrich A. Hayek	Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics	Simon and Schuster, NY, 1969, 356 pgs, index.	economics, politics,	This book contains a number of the author's speechs, essays and studies. The three main parts deal with the three subjects of the title. All are necessary for a full understanding of contemporary political-economic life. Again, the author demonstrates the fallacies of socialism. He discusses the differences between 'commutative justice' and 'distributive justice'. He shows that as much as the proponents of 'distributive justice' claim an altruistic purpose and that policies seeking to further this, in reality such efforts must involve coercion and the curtailment of freedom.
Henry Hazlitt	Economics in One Lesson	Manor Books, NY. 1946 - 1973, 143 pgs, paperback	economics	This is a short, clear exposition of the ideas of von Mises and Hayek presented in a direct language for the general reader. It is an analysis of the prevalent economic fallacies that support public policy today. It begins with a discussion of the classic story by Bastiat about the economic effect of a 'broker window'. This is the basic 'must read' in the study of economics.
Amity Shales	The forgotten man	Harper Collins, NY., 2007, 464 pgs., index, bibliography	History of the Great Depression	The best historical study of the FDR political machine and its personalities and policies - shows the popular myths about its success. Description of the Democrat methods for the election of 1936 is very relevant today.
Thomas G. Donlan	"History Lesson From the Twenties"	The Editorial Commentary article from the November 2, 2009 issue of Barron's.	History, economics	A very interesting essay based on research by Lee Ohanian. The subject is the mistakes of the Hoover Administration that are not well recognized for their mistaken adverse effects that converted a stock market crash and recession into a worse depression. "While generations of Americans have blamed Hoover for relying on the free market instead of government intervention, some of the workers' misery in the Great Depression should be attributed to Hoover's mistaken high-wage policy." Note the lesson for today.
Clarence B. Carson	The Welfare State 1929-1985	American Textbook Committee, 1986, 346 pgs, index, notes	American history - Volume 5 of A Basic history of the United States	The best short historical study of the Great Depression and its aftermath through 1985.
Robert J. Samuelson	The Great Inflation and its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence	Random House, New York, 2008, 309 pgs., index, notes, glosssary	history, economics	The author focuses on American economic and political history since World War II. He discusses the government policies that created and attempted to end the huge inflation of the 1970's. The results would have been even better had he at least including some of the background from pre- World War II.
Garet Garrett	The People's Pottage	Caxton Printers Idaho, 1953-92	economics, history, politics	Denunciation of the revolution created by the FDR "New Deal". This is a set of essays the most famous of which is "The Revolution Was" in which the detailed revolutionary program of the New Deal is explained. It is extra valuable now as it enables comparison of Obama to FDR.
Liaquat Ahamed	Lords of Finance: The Bankers who Broke the World	Penguin Press, NY., 2009, 564 pgs., notes, index, bibliography	economic history, finance	A study of the coming of the Great Depression told via extended biographies of the four main central bankers - Montagu Norman, Bank of England - Benjamin Strong, New York Federal Reserve - Hjalmar Schacht, Reichsbanki - Emile Moreau, Banque de France. Wonderfully vivid biographies that reveal the personal strengths and weaknesses of these and other main actors in the fateful drama. While I personally believe in the significance of the personal importance of 'great men' in history, I also believe that the social - cultural - intellectual environment in which these men operated exterted an important influence of their actions and the results.
William Klingaman	The Year of the Great Crash - 1929	Harper and Row, NY., 1989, 391 pgs., index, notes, bibliography, illustrations	economic history	A social - cultural history of one year - with a brief prologue in 1928 and epilogue into the 1930's. The book is full of descriptions of personalities and events from Al Capone to Mahatma Gandhi. This is an excellent companion to "Lords of Finance'.
Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz	A Monetary History of the United States 1867 - 1960	Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton NJ.,	economic history	The classic study of money and banking in the US since the Civil War. This provides historical perspective on 'banking crises' 'panics' and political manipulation of economic markets.
Martin Weiss	Crash Profit: Make Money when Stocks sink and soar!	John Wilen and Sons, NJ. 2003, 351pgs., index, notes	Investment in economic deflationary period	Description of the same credit expansion and deleveraging deflation as in the Bonner books, but with focus on ways to invest to make money anyway
Martin Weiss	The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide: Protect your savings boost your income and grow wealthy even in the worse of times.	John Wiley and Sons, NJ., 2009, 220 pgs., index	investment advice, economics, finance	Further elaboration of the book, Crash Profit, with advice on investing in deflationary - inflationary times. The author publishes a monthly newsletter 'Safe Money', that provides explicit recommendations on investments. His company also gives unbiased evaluations of banks and insurance companies.
Glyn Davies	History of Money: From Ancient times to the present day	Univ. of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1994, 2002, 720 pgs., index	Economic history	The book begins with an excellent discussion on the nature of money throughout history and its functions. Next it has full dsicussion of ancient money before and after the invention of coinage. There are chapters on Greek and Roman money and medieval money. The role of early bankers is described. Then, with the creation of the Bank of England the discussion rather merges money and banking because most actual money in modern times is a creation of banks. There is a detailed description of the development of money and banking in the United States since 1700 and in the rest of the world. The book concludes with a chapter on the future of a global currency.
Jack Weatherford	- The History of Money	Three Rivers Press, NY, 1997, 288 pgs, index, bibliography, footnotes.	Economic history	A very readable history of the role of money from ancient times to the present. The author's purpose is to make readers aware of the serious problems with money today. However, the releatively short chapters on money in ancient and medieval times do provide interesting background. The author describes the Roman Empire as the first 'welfare state". He devotes much space to the role of gold versus paper money. Most interesting is his prediction that there will be an increasing struggle over who will control the money supply.
Niall Ferguson	The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World	Penguin Press, NY., 2008, 4412 pgs., illustrations, notes, index	Economic history	This much aclaimed book has brought the author onto the TV talk circuit as the guru of what is what with the current economic - credit crisis. The book describes the history of money and banking before the 20th century just enough to give some background that will enable the author to focus on recent and current history. His last chapter, "Afterward: The Descent of Money" begins with the sentence, "Today's financial world is the result of four millennia of economic evolution." And indeed it is, but one will find out more of the past history in Glyn Davies' book and a rather different assessment of the future in Weatherford's book. But in his summary he hits home with this. "And from the twentieth, households were encouraged, for political reasons, to increase leverage and skew their portfolios in favor of real estate. And the section "From Warfare to Welfare" is a must read that should enlighten even the most adamant liberal socialist.
Niall Ferguson	The War of the World: Twentieth-Centuiry Conflict and the Descent of the West	Penguin Press, NY, 2006, 808 pgs. 10 maps, illustrations, massive notes and bibliogrphy, index	history, economics, sociology	A very broad, discussion including social, economic and political history. It is a cultural history of the 20th century West and the role of war in its collapse. It should be read with the Bobbitt and Kennedy books. It forms a background for Ferguson's views on money.
Max Boot	War made New: Technology, Warfare and the Course of History 1500 to Today	Gotham Books, NY, 2006, 624 pgs., 18 maps, some illustrations, extensive noes and large bibliogrphy, index	history, warfare	The author places too much stress on the impact of technology, Philip Bobbitt'e Shield of Achilles is a better analysis of the development of the modern warfare state. Kennedy explicitly downplays the role of technology in the transformation of warfare itself as well as in the causation of the rise and fall of nations.
Frederic Mishkin	The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets: 5th edition	Addison- Wesley, NY., 1997, 732 pgs. index, appendices	Technical text book on money and banking	A textbook description of financial markets and banking and monetary theory with much use of mathmatics and equations and graphs. The economic establishment view with Keynesian ideas. It takes for granted that modern political-economy is on a sound basis. One badly needs a book by Mishkin dated 2010.
G. Edward Griffin	The Creature from Jekyll Island: A second look at the Federal Reserve	American Media, Calif., 1994-2003, 608 pgs., index, bibliography	History of the Federal Reserve System	Read with Crashmaker and Mayer's book. This is a devastating inditement of the whole FED reserve system and demand that it be abolished. It is very depressing when one understands what the book describes. But it is not so polemical as Greider's book.
Victor Sperando and Alvaro Almeida	Crashmaker:	Sheridan Books, Michigan, 2000, 2 vol. 1572 pgs.	economics, politics, political theory	A powerful novel - gripping mystery, spy, financial, political, economic story. The role of the FED in creating the financial disaster in the US and the politics of the 'welfare state' is the underlying theme. The premise is clearly stated, "Since the misnamed "Progressive Era' of the early 1900's America's leaders have set this country on the same downward spiral of redistribution, excessive regulation, and inevitable decline..." A very powerful 'must read'. The book is now very expensive and difficult to find, but very much worth the effort.
William Greider	Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country	Simon & Schuster, NY.,	economics, politics	A very negative view of the Federal Reserve from a liberal perspective - written before the activities of the 21st century
Martin Mayer	The FED: The Inside Story of How the World's Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives the Markets	The Free Press, NY., 2001	economics, politics	The author provides extreme detail needed to see how the financial system actually operates. It cannot be fully understood in one reading. As an 'insider' the author describes personalities, who does what. He describes the events of the market crash of October 1987. Another book that explodes the myth of the 'free market'. Describes the Congressional political forces on the FED. More objective than Greider's book.
William A. Fleckenstein	Greenspan's Bubbles: The Age of Ignorance at the Federal Reserve	McGraw-Hill, NY.,	economics, politics	A devastating account of the Federal Reserve policies of the Greenspan era - 1990's - 2003 - Places too much blame on Greenspan himself rather than on the Fed Reserve System as an institution and on the purposes for which it was created.
Ravi Batra	Greenspan's Fraud: How two Decades of his policies have undermined the Global Economy	Palgrave, NY., 2005, 278 pags., index, notes	polemic attack on Greenspan and his policies	The author's polemical attack on Greenspan looses its power to convince by too much focus on the man rather than the FED as an institution and the political policies of the US Government that Greenspan was executing, even he was claiming otherwise. The author presents his own 'solutions' to the economic crisis. He claims that the Social Security system is a fraud - which it is.
Nassim Taleb	Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden role of Chance in Life and in the Markets	Random House, NY., 2005, 315 pgs. paperback, bibliography, index, notes	investments, financials	The hubris of financial market traders who believe their current success is due to their own brilliance while forgeting the eventual reversion of trends to their mean.
Nassim Taleb	The Black Swan	Random House, NY.,	investments, financial history	The 'black swan' is the unexpected arrival of disaster due to misbelief that just because something has not occurred in the past it cannot occur in the future.
Nassim Taleb	Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder	Random House, NY., 2012	Financial history - investments
Charles P. Kindleberger	Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises	John Wiley & Sons, NY., 3rd ed. 1996, 4th ed., 2000, 264 pgs. index, notes	economic history, political history	The author focuses on the financial crises that culminate an expansionary business cycle and lead to a contraction. These result from excessive speculation and may be called 'manias' followed by 'panics'. He briefly overviews many of these since the 1600's and provides a summary table. He discusses the continual controversy between the 'currency school' that is monetarists and the 'banking school' that is Keynesian. He does not much like 'econometrics'. Much of the book is devoted to the question of a 'lender of last resort'. The subject is NOT Inflation or deflation in history, nor the full business cycle, but rather the specific culmination of it indicated in the title.
Charles P. Kindleberger and Robert Alber	Manias, Panics and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises	John Wiley & Sons, N.Y., 5th ed. 2005, 355 pgs, paperback, Index, notes	economic history, political history	Charles Kindleberger died in 2003, the book was completed by Robert Alber. This is especially unfortunate since we so badly need their analysis of the most massive 'mania, panic and crash of the last 50 years (2005-2009). Both editions are important in refuting the concept of the 'efficient market' and the 'buy and hold' philosophy.
Peter G. Peterson	Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties are bankrupting our future and what Americans can do about it	Farrar, Straus and Giroux, NY., 2004, 242 pgs., brief source note	The coming collapse of the United States financial system	The author was one of the first to shout about the coming financial disaster from Social Security and Medicare lack of real funding for future entitlement spending. All his predictions have become worse since 2004. But politicians of both parties are not paying attention (except Congressman Ron Paul). He believes the main cause now is the 'entitlement generation' and politicians who promise more but 'pay' for it by increasing public debt.
William Bonner and Addison Wiggin -	Financial Reckoning Day: Surviving the Soft Depression ofthe 21st Century	John Wiley and Sons, NY., 2003, 306 pgs., index, footnotes.	politics, economics	Predictions about the demise of the US welfare state system - 'what cannot continue, will stop'. The authors see America repeating the mistakes of Japan. They note the deleveraging of the credit bubble. And they blame Greenspan for economic blunders.
William Bonner and Addison Wiggin	Financial Reckoning Day: Fallout	John Wiley and Sons, NY., 2009, 437 pgs., notes, index	politics, economics	A new version of the above, with 100+ more pages. The first edition is repeated practically verbatim, but the new material is very worthwhile. If you have the first edition, get this from library, otherwise buy this version
Burton G. Malkiel	A Random Walk down Wall Street: The Time tested Strategy of Successful Investing	W. W. Norton Co, NY., 1973 - 2007, 414 pgs., index, tables	investment	The champion of 'buy and hold' investing - buy an index - based on 'efficient market theory' and Modern Portfolio theory. I don't buy it at all. But he does demolish chartists, technical analysts (easy to do) and also much fundamentalist research (harder to do). In the new edition the author claims his first edition is still valid - but this was published before 2008. Many other books on this list demolish the underlying concepts of 'intrinsic value' and "rational" man. The 'straw men' he sets up are easily set on fire, as are his own examples in support of his theory. Dr. Malkiel is now hyping the 10th edition of this book. He now is stressing investment in 'emerging markets' a fad he didn't include in early editions.
Addison Wiggin	The Demise of the Dollar	Agora Press, John Wiley and Sons, 2008, 197 pgs, notes, index.	politics, economics	Further description of the impossible fiscal, economic policies of the U.S. to continue the welfare state promises. The author discusses the role of the FED in creating the monetary crisis. And the book claims to provide ideas for profitable investing in this environment.
Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin	Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis	Agora Press, John Wiley and Sons, Ny., 2006, 370 pgs., notes, index	politics, economics	A libertarian view. The coming collapse of the United States due to over extension of credit and the inherent fallacy of fiat money. Both Republicans of President Reagan and Democrats of all presidents are blamed but the problem began with President W. Wilson and the creation of the FED and Income Tax. The authors deplore the U.S. effort to create an 'Empire' which cannot be financially supported.
Bill Bonner and Lila Rajiva	Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets	John Wiley and Sons, 2007, 424 pgs, index, footnotes.	economics, psychology, political policy	Description of the fallacies of politicians and peoples throughout history with special emphasis on the United States today. The author has a very negative view of human nature.
Addison Wiggin and Kate Incontrera,	I.O.U.S. A: One Nation, understress, in debt	John Wiley and Sons, 2008, 266 pgs, index	politics, economics, social policy	Expands on the theme of the previous Bonner and Wiggin books - Based on interviews with leading economic and political leaders. Companion to a movie that attempts to influence public opinion by showing the impossibility of the US government to fulfill its promises for welfare.
John Steele Gordon	Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Lifeand Times of our National Debt	Walker and Co. NY. 1997, 214 pgs., index, table showing the US national debt up to 1996	economic history, commentary	The author, as his title indicates, is much in favor of Hamilton's idea for creating a national debt and a central bank. He disagrees with Jefferson's and Jackson's strong attacks on both. Gordon claims that the national debt was instrumental in providing finances for the Civil, and both World Wars. Yet he is very concerned about what has happened since - the extraordinary huge increase in the national debt. And this is only in 1996. He would likely have a heart attack, if considering the level of debt in 2009.
Robert Shiller	Irrational Exuberance	, Broadway Books, 2001, 319 pages, index, bibliography, footnotes.	investment, financial, economics	An early prediction of the coming stock market and investment collapse and deflation.
David Colbert	Eyewitness to Wall Street
Martin Mayer	The Bankers		financial, economics	A detailed description and analysis of the functioning of the US banking system from an insider's point of view.
Martin Mayer -	The FED: Inside story of how the world's most powerful financial institution drives the markets		monetary policy, fiscal policy	Read with Crashmaker and Creature from Jekyll Islandand People's PottageThis is more straight forward economic and political history.
Martin Mayer	Stealing the Market: How the Giant Brokerage Firms, with Help from the SEC, Stole the Stock Market from Investors	Basic Books, NY.,	economic history, investments	The author used access to the players in the financial markets and banking system to create this expose.
Martin Mayer	The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery: The Collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry	Collier Books, NY.,	investment history	Another detailed description from an 'insider' perspective with attention to personalities.
Barry Ritholtz	Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall street and Shook the World Economy	John Wiley & Sons, NY., 2009, 332 pgs., index. notes	economic history, investment	We might consider this a continuation of the exposure of fraud and near-fraud described by Martin Mayer. It also is another attack on Greenspan and his politicies of 'easy money' like that of Bill Fleckenstein and Bill Bonner. The author includes some of the political involvements but does not get to the core of the issue, nor does he more than mention the origins of the FED.. It is easier to blame the 'greed' of 'incompetent' bankers and brokers. Still, a fine detailed description of 'bailouts' since 1971 culminating in the credit collapse of 2008 - but we now need more of the same on subsequent events.
Charles Gasparino	Blood on the Street:	Free Press, NY., 2005, 353 pgs, index, notes	The Wall Street stock bubble of late 1990's and the role of stock analysts at major firms in promoting it.	This is about the stock market - It focuses on the way analysts at major Wall Street companies gave favorable ratings to companies that were providing millions of dollars of business to their companies. It describes the matter and how Eliot Spitzer as NY Attorney General broke several cases and forced some changes in the relationship between analysts and the companies. The author is now using his excellent connections with insiders to report on Fox Business TV.
Charles Gasparino	The Sellout: how Three Decades of Wall Street Greed and Government Mismanagement Destroyed the Global Financial System	Harper Business, NY., 553 pgs.	economics, business history	This is a much bigger story as the bond market is much bigger than the stock market. And it is the bond market that is directly related to the debt=credit explosion. A very well written, even fascinating account with descriptions of the major players in the finance industry. An even more detailed and narrowly focused account of the financial 'meltdown' and credit collapse of 2008. The author focuses on the principal players. He describes the role of the Federal Government, something that Ritholtz overlooks or ignores. But, again, this is contemporary reporting without discussion of the deeper and longer-range historical background. It was not government 'mismanagement' but purposeful egalitarian political policy.
Charles Gasparino	Bought and Paid For: The Unholy Alliance between Barack Obama and Wall Street	Penguin Books, NY., 2010, 290 pgs. notes, appendices	Current link between politics and Wall Street finances. A valuable expose.	Mr. Gasparino continues his investigative journalism. The style is the same as in other books. And this one could use a strong editing to reduce irksome repetition. But the theme is important. The author names names and gives dates of meetings. The title tells it all - a close financial support of Obama from his early campaigns into the presidency by the biggest honchos on Wall Street who sought political support for their financial - monetary profit making methods.
David S. Landes	The Weallth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor.	W. W. Norton Co. New York, 650 pgs, bibliography, index, notes	world history, economic history	Why European countries created wealth and gained power in the context of society's cultures. Europe succeeded throughout the world due to its culture. This describes a broader picture than Kennedy's book.
Christopher Mayer	Invest like a Dealmaker: Secrets from a Former Banking Insider	John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 2008, 222 pgs, index, notes	investment advice	The author describes his theories about finding good investments. And he discusses the methods of a number of famous investors including Charlie Munger, Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett.. His method requires detailed research into the fundamentals of a company before investing. He writes, forget Modern Market Theory - pick a few stocks and keep them. Main point is there are two stock markets - one for amateurs and one for professionals.
Robert G. Hagstrom	The Essential Bufffett: Timeless Principles for the New Economy	John Wiley & Sons, NY.,	investment advice	The author attempts to identify Buffett's fundamental principles and investment methods
Mary Buffett and David Clark	The New Buffettology	Rawson Associates, 2002, 288 pgs, index	investment advice	Describes Buffett's original investment in insurance companies and how he uses the float as protection from high income taxes. How to take advantage of bad situations and down markets with companies that have durable competitive advantage.
Lawrence A. Cunningham	How to Think Like Benjamin Graham and Invest like Warren Buffett	McGraw-Hill, NY.,	investment advice	More on investment rules culled from Buffett's record.
Hildy and Stan Richelson	Bonds: The Unbeaten path to secure Investment Growth	Bloomberg Press, NY.,	investment advice	Authors advocate buying individual bonds and holding to maturity. They claim this is only sure way to know exactly what your return will be from an investment. The very significant return on US Treasury bonds versus the stock market since 1999 strengthens their argument.
Robert Sobel	The Pursuit of Wealth: The Incredible Story of Money Throughout the Ages	McGraw-Hill, NY.,	economic history
Robert D. Kaplan	The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War	Random House, NY., 2000, 198 pgs., index	economics, investments	A collection of the author's essays published from 1994 on .
Gary Schilling	Deflation: How to Survive and Thrive in the Coming Wave of Deflation	McGraw-Hill, NY.,	economics, investments	A very early, prophetic discussion of the deflationary epoch and how to protect investments. Should have been studied years ago.
Gary Schilling	The Age of Deleveraging: Investment Strategies for a Decade of Slow Growth and Deflation	John Wiley and Sons, NY., 2010	Analysis of current economic - financial situation	Mr Schilling touts his new book in an essay in Forbes Dec 20, 2010. Quote" After 40 years of leveraging up by global financial firms and three decades of a borrowing andspending binge by U. S. Consumers, deleveraging is here. It will persist fora decade, and that's the good news." In the book he gets specific about which industries to avoid (housing and financial related) and which to favor (energy, especially in North America).
Carroll Quigley	Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in our time	MacMillan Co., NY./, 1966. 1348 pgs., index	History	The author was a professor of history at Georgetown Univ. He was a self-proclaimed liberal with access to the establishment leaders and wrote from an 'insider's' point of view about the liberal agenda as it has been practiced in recent times. He was an Anglophile. The first chapters provide an historical background from the 19th century. Other chapters are topical. One strikingly relevant observation Quigley makes is about the unique position of the United States from its ability to finance its operations and debt from its own fiat currency. That ability is at the center of controversy over international finance and the expanding US deficit in balance of payments today. This is a difficult but very important book.
Jim Rogers	Adventure Capitalist	Random House, NY., 2003, 357 pgs., index	world travel with observations on culture and economics	The author's main conclusions from his drive around the world: there will be a new commodity bull market - China is rising in future - India and Pakistan are disintegrating - the Euro will fall - Angola has bright future as does Bolivia. NGO's are a fraud.
Roger Lowenstein	Origins of the Crash: The great bubble and its undoing	The Penguin Press, NY., 2004, 270 pgs., index, notes	The 'dot.com'crash	This is a detailed description of the great boom on Wall Street in the 1990's - specifically the so-called 'dot-com' crash. It is about the massive speculation and fraud that transferred millions of dollars. The author names many of the worst perpetrators such as Jack Grubman, Henry Blodget, Ken Lay, and Bernie Ebbers and the corporations such as Enron and World Com. He includes Alan Greenspan and the role of government - FED monetary policy. He focuses on the criminal behavior and the mass mania that generated a spectacular increase in stock prices followed by a rapid collapse of same. But the whole discussion is superficial. The author does not recognize that he is describing a typical 'blow-out' phase of a century long inflation wave- nor that it will be followed by a deflationary period. Writing in 2004, of course, he cannot know that his Crash and 'great bubble' was but the first of the series that followed.
Paul Krugman	The Great unraveling: Losing our way in the new century	W. W. Norton, NY., 2005, 426 pgs., index	A compendium of the authors published articles, mostly from the New York Times between 2000 and 2005. - public affairs, economics.	We read this for the same reason we study Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto - The author is still at it and has a strong following in the liberal "progressive' political camp. He makes his biased position clear in the preface when he quotes the radical reporter, Helen Thomas, who called President Bush II "the worst president in all of American history'. For professor Krugman everything Bush is bad and everything Clinton is good. He continues to advocate the worse of Keynesian economics and urges the president and congress to INCREASE spending and expand the DEFICIT. Unfortunately he still has a prominent position on the pages of the New York Times to promote his leftist agenda.
Christopher Whalen	Inflated: How Money and Debt Built the American Dream	John Wiley, 2011, 393 pgs, notes, index	economic history of US. money and banking	A vivid narrative about the rule of banks and financiers in the economic and political history of the U.S. Highlights the important role of President Lincoln and Republicans in expanding government control. Shows clearly the role of credit and debt generated by the banking system in both expansion and contraction. Describes the importance of the Federal Reserve. But the author misses the relationship of the FED and creation of the income tax and direct election of senators.
Lawrence Freedman	Strategy: A History	Oxford Univ. Press, 751pgs., index, extensive notes	Inellectual history	After a brief discussion of the Bible, and Greeks, the author jumps to Sun Tzu and Machiavelli. The remainder is divided into sections on 'Strategics of Force', 'Strategy from Below', 'Strategy from Above', and "Theories of Strategy.' Chapter 32 is on The Rise of Economics.
Peter Heather	The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians	Oxford Univ. Press, 2007, index, noes, bibliography, maps	Military and Cultural History
Simon James	Rome and the Sword: How Warriors and Weapons Shaped Roman history	Thames and Hudson, 328 pgs., of small font, index, notes, bibliography, illustrations, maps	Military and Cultural History
Dan Jones	The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England	Viking, NYC., 534 pgs., index, added reading, maps, geneological charts	Military, Political and Cultural History	Use the link to read more. This is an excellent book, a great read full of fascinating detail. The author's obvious purpose is to tell a great story about 'The Warrior Kings and Queens who Made England" and he fulfills his purpose. His larger purpose is to show how the members of this Plantagenet dynasty and their opponents created the fundamental structure and nature of England and its society. There are also concepts and 'lessons' the attentive reader can find on his own embedded in the story. There is an excellent index and helpful maps. The author provides a useful 'further reading' for each chapter, which shows the rich reference sources, both primary chronicles and memoirs and recent biographies and studies. The author leaves out footnoting, no doubt to avoid breaking up the narrative. But within the text itself he provides extensive direct quotations cited to eyewitness accounts and contemporary historians.
Brendan Simms	Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy from 1453 to the Present	Basic Books, NYC, 2013, index, notes	Political, Cultural and Military History	The author's thesis is that the struggle to control Germany has been the central driving force of European History
Geoffrey Parker	Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century	Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, 2013, 871 pgs., notes, index, bibliography, maps	Politial and Military History