Splendid Exchange

A Splendid Exchange tells the epic story of global commerce, from its prehistoric origins to the myriad crises confronting it today. It travels from the sugar rush that brought the British to Jamaica in the seventeenth century to our current debates over globalization, from the silk route between China and Rome in the second century to the rise and fall of the Portuguese monopoly in spices in the sixteenth. Throughout, William Bernstein examines how our age-old dependency on trade has contributed to our planet's agricultural bounty, stimulated intellectual and industrial progress and made us both prosperous and vulnerable.

"'A highly entertaining read. Bernstein's enthusiasm for his subject and impressive organisation of a wealth of material enable him to plot with pace and verve... man's trading history.' Hugh Carnegy, Financial Times 'Timely and readable... The strength of Mr Bernstein's book is the analytical rigour that overlays the rollicking history.' Economist 'Superb... The chronological range of Bernstein's book is staggering... Graceful and insightful history with a delicate display of scholarship that conceals a vast erudition.' Paul Kennedy, Foreign Affairs"

William Bernstein is an American financial theorist and historian whose books include The Birth of Plenty, which was published in 2004 to critical acclaim. He lives in America.