-Titulo Original : Nomadland Surviving America In The Twenty-first Century-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: The New York Times bestseller and inspiration for Chloe Zhaos 2020 Golden Lion award-winning film starring Frances McDormand.People who thought the 2008 financial collapse was over a long time ago need to meet the people Jessica Bruder got to know in this scorching, beautifully written, vivid, disturbing (and occasionally wryly funny) book. Rebecca SolnitFrom the beet fields of North Dakota to the National Forest campgrounds of California to Amazon’s CamperForce program in Texas, employers have discovered a new, low-cost labor pool, made up largely of transient older Americans. Finding that social security comes up short, often underwater on mortgages, these invisible casualties of the Great Recession have taken to the road by the tens of thousands in late-model RVs, travel trailers, and vans, forming a growing community of nomads: migrant laborers who call themselves “workampers.”On frequently traveled routes between seasonal jobs, Jessica Bruder meets people from all walks of life: a former professor, a McDonald’s vice president, a minister, a college administrator, and a motorcycle cop, among many others including her irrepressible protagonist, a onetime cocktail waitress, Home Depot clerk, and general contractor named Linda May.In a secondhand vehicle she christens “Van Halen,” Bruder hits the road to get to know her subjects more intimately. Accompanying Linda May and others from campground toilet cleaning to warehouse product scanning to desert reunions, then moving on to the dangerous work of beet harvesting, Bruder tells a compelling, eye-opening tale of the dark underbelly of the American economy one that foreshadows the precarious future that may await many more of us. At the same time, she celebrates the exceptional resilience and creativity of these quintessential Americans who have given up ordinary rootedness to survive. Like Linda May, who dreams of finding land on which to build her own sustainable “Earthship” home, they have not given up hope. 25 illustrations Review Stunning and beautifully written. . . brilliant and haunting Arlie Russell Hochschild, New York Times Book ReviewPeople who thought the 2008 financial collapse was over a long time ago need to meet the people Jessica Bruder got to know in this scorching, beautifully written, vivid, disturbing (and occasionally wryly funny) book. Nomadland is a testament both to the generosity and creativity of the victims of our modern-medieval economy, hidden in plain sight, and to the blunt-end brutality that put them there. Is this the best the wealthiest nation on earth can do for those who’ve already done so much? Rebecca Solnit, author of A Paradise Built in HellIn the early twentieth century, men used to ride the rails in search of work, sharing camps at night. Today, as Bruder brilliantly reports, we have a new class of nomadic workers who travel in their RVs from one short-term job to another. There’s a lot to cringe at here from low pay and physically exhausting work to constant insecurity. But surprisingly, Nomadland also offers its residents much-needed camaraderie and adventure, which makes this book a joy to read. Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and DimedThe campsite as the home of last resort, the RV used not for vacation but for survival: these are the makings of a new dystopia. Nomadland is a smart road book for the new economy, full of conviviality and dark portent. Ted Conover, author of Rolling Nowhere and ImmersionYou will never forget the people whose stories Bruder tells. Proud, resourceful, screwed-over, funny and in so many ways admirable, the American nomads Bruder lived with and reports on have sometimes lost everything but their bravado . . . . [She] tells their stories with humanity and wit. Louise Erdrich, author of Future Home of the Living God“Bruder is a poised and graceful writer.” Parul Sehgal, New York Times[A] devastating, revelatory book. Timothy R. Smith...

-Titulo Original : The Price Of Inequality: How Todays Divided Society Endangers Our Future-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: A forceful argument against Americas vicious circle of growing inequality by the Nobel Prize-winning economist. The top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. And, as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains, while those at the top enjoy the best health care, education, and benefits of wealth, they fail to realize that “their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live.” Stiglitz draws on his deep understanding of economics to show that growing inequality is not inevitable: moneyed interests compound their wealth by stifling true, dynamic capitalism. They have made America the most unequal advanced industrial country while crippling growth, trampling on the rule of law, and undermining democracy. The result: a divided society that cannot tackle its most pressing problems. With characteristic insight, Stiglitz examines our current state, then teases out its implications for democracy, for monetary and budgetary policy, and for globalization. He closes with a plan for a more just and prosperous future. Review Joseph E. Stiglitzs new book, The Price of Inequality, is the single most comprehensive counterargument to both Democratic neoliberalism and Republican laissez-faire theories. While credible economists running the gamut from center right to center left describe our bleak present as the result of seemingly unstoppable developments globalization and automation, a self-replicating establishment built on meritocratic competition, the debt-driven collapse of 2008 Stiglitz stands apart in his defiant rejection of such notions of inevitability. He seeks to shift the terms of the debate. Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times Book ReviewStiglitz writes clearly and provocatively. He’s the kind of economist who can talk about terms such as rent-seeking and the euro crisis and bring readers along for the ride... Stiglitz isn’t just writing about people being hurt by inequality, he is also writing about the system itself being in jeopardy and what needs to be done to fix it. Dante Chinni, Washington PostConcise and clearly argued. Publishers WeeklyAn impassioned argument backed by rigorous economic analysis. Kirkus ReviewsAn important and smart new book... It’s a searing read. Nicholas Kristof, New York Times About the Author Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and the best-selling author of Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti- Globalization in the Age of Trump, The Price of Inequality, and Freefall. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, chief economist of the World Bank, named by Time as one of the 100 most influential individuals in the world, and now teaches at Columbia University and is chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute...

-Titulo Original : Naked Money A Revealing Look At Our Financial System-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Charles Wheelan’s wonderfully whimsical, best-selling Naked series tackles the weird, surprisingly colorful world of money and banking.Consider the $20 bill.It has no more value, as a simple slip of paper, than Monopoly money. Yet even children recognize that tearing one into small pieces is an act of inconceivable stupidity. What makes a $20 bill actually worth twenty dollars? In the third volume of his best-selling Naked series, Charles Wheelan uses this seemingly simple question to open the door to the surprisingly colorful world of money and banking.The search for an answer triggers countless other questions along the way: Why does paper money (“fiat currency” if you want to be fancy) even exist? And why do some nations, like Zimbabwe in the 1990s, print so much of it that it becomes more valuable as toilet paper than as currency? How do central banks use the power of money creation to stop financial crises? Why does most of Europe share a common currency, and why has that arrangement caused so much trouble? And will payment apps, bitcoin, or other new technologies render all of this moot?In Naked Money, Wheelan tackles all of the above and more, showing us how our banking and monetary systems should work in ideal situations and revealing the havoc and suffering caused in real situations by inflation, deflation, illiquidity, and other monetary effects. Throughout, Wheelan’s uniquely bright-eyed, whimsical style brings levity and clarity to a subject often devoid of both. With illuminating stories from Argentina, Zimbabwe, North Korea, America, China, and elsewhere around the globe, Wheelan demystifies the curious world behind the paper in our wallets and the digits in our bank accounts. 15 illustrations About the Author Charles Wheelan is the author of the best-selling Naked Statistics and Naked Economics and is a former correspondent for the Economist. He teaches public policy and economics at Dartmouth College and lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, with his family...

-Titulo Original : Dwellings A Spiritual History Of The Living World-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Award-winning Chickasaw poet and novelist Linda Hogan explores her lifelong love of the living world and all its inhabitants. We want to live as if there is no other place, Hogan tells us, as if we will always be here. We want to live with devotion to the world of waters and the universe of life. In offering praise to sky, earth, water, and animals, she calls us to witness how each living thing is alive in a conscious world with its own integrity, grace, and dignity. In Dwellings, Hogan takes us on a spiritual quest borne out of the deep past and offers a more hopeful future as she seeks new visions and lights ancient fires. Review A beautifully poetic book of wonder. -- San Francisco ExaminerHogan brings her feeling for language and story to these quietly beautiful and provocative musings on the nature of nature. -- BooklistShe writes beautifully about animals without anthropomorphizing them and, in so doing, explores what it means to be human. -- Publishers WeeklyThe pieces come together to reflect the authors profound respect for the earth and prompt us to feel the same. -- Library Journal About the Author Linda Hogan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Mean Spirit. Her other honors include an American Book Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in Tishomingo, Oklahoma...

-Titulo Original : The Alignment Problem Machine Learning And Human Values-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review The disconnect between intention and results between what mathematician Norbert Wiener described as “the purpose put into the machine” and “the purpose we really desire” defines the essence of “the alignment problem.” Brian Christian, an accomplished technology writer, offers a nuanced and captivating exploration of this white-hot topic, giving us along the way a survey of the state of machine learning and of the challenges it faces. David A. Shaywitz, Wall Street JournalA fascinating, provocative, and insightful tour of all the ways that AI goes wrong and all the ways people are trying to fix it. Essential reading if you want to understand where our world is heading. Stuart Russell, professor of computer science, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Human CompatibleA new field has emerged that responds to and scrutinizes the vast technological shifts represented by our modern, virtual, algorithmically defined world. In The Alignment Problem, Brian Christian masterfully surveys the ‘AI fairness’ community, introducing us to some of its main characters; some of its historical roots in science, philosophy, and activism; and crucially, many of its philosophical quandaries and limitations. Cathy O’Neil, author of Weapons of Math DestructionThis is the book on artificial intelligence we need right now. Brian Christian takes us on a technically fluent (yet widely accessible) journey through the most important questions facing AI and humanity. It is thought-provoking and vital reading for anyone interested in our future. Mike Krieger, cofounder of An abundantly researched and captivating book that explores the road humanity has taken to create a successor for itself a road that’s rich with surprising discoveries, unexpected obstacles, ingenious solutions and, increasingly, hard questions about the soul of our species. Jaan Tallinn, cofounder of Skype and the Future of Life InstituteThe Alignment Problem should be required reading for anyone influencing policy where algorithms are in play which is everywhere. But unlike much required reading, the book is a delight to read, a playful romp through personalities and relatable snippets of science history that put the choices of our present moment into context. Jennifer Pahlka, founder of Code for America and former deputy CTO of the United StatesA deeply enjoyable and meticulously researched account of how computer scientists and philosophers are defining the biggest question of our time: how will we create intelligent machines that will improve our lives rather than complicate or even destroy them? There’s no better book than The Alignment Problem at spelling out the issues of governing AI safely. James Barrat, best-selling author of Our Final InventionBrian Christian is a fine writer and has produced a fascinating book. AI seems destined to become, for good or ill, increasingly prominent in our lives. We should be grateful for this balanced and hype-free perspective on its scope and limits. Martin Rees, emeritus professor of cosmology and astrophysics, University of CambridgeAn intriguing exploration of AI, which is advancing faster than well, than we are. Kirkus Reviews A jaw-dropping exploration of everything that goes wrong when we build AI systems and the movement to fix them.Today’s “machine-learning” systems, trained by data, are so effective that we’ve invited them to see and hear for us and to make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Recent years have seen an eruption of concern as the field of machine learning advances. When the systems we attempt to teach will not, in the end, do what we want or what we expect, ethical and potentially existential risks emerge. Researchers call this the alignment problem.Systems cull resumes until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases. Algorithms decide bail and parole and appear to assess Black and Wh...

-Titulo Original : A River Lost The Life And Death Of The Columbia-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Superbly reported and written with clarity, insight, and great skill. Washington Post Book World After two decades, Washington Post journalist Blaine Harden returned to his small-town birthplace in the Pacific Northwest to follow the rise and fall of the West’s most thoroughly conquered river. To explore the Columbia River and befriend those who collaborated in its destruction, he traveled on a monstrous freight barge sailing west from Idaho to the Grand Coulee Dam, the site of the river’s harnessing for the sake of jobs, electricity, and irrigation. A River Lost is a searing personal narrative of rediscovery joined with a narrative of exploitation: of Native Americans, of endangered salmon, of nuclear waste, and of a once-wild river. Updated throughout, this edition features a new foreword and afterword. 7 maps Review A hard-nosed, clear-eyed, tough-minded dispatch on the sort of contentious subject that is almost always distorted by ideology or obscured by a fog of sentiment . . . . A precise and brave book. Hal Espen, New York Times Book Review About the Author Blaine Harden, an award-winning journalist, is a contributor to The Economist and a former foreign correspondent for the Washington Post. He lives in Seattle, Washington...

-Titulo Original : Railroaded The Transcontinentals And The Making Of Modern America-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize: A powerful book, crowded with telling details and shrewd observations. Michael Kazin, New York Times Book ReviewThis original, deeply researched history shows the transcontinentals to be pivotal actors in the making of modern America. But the triumphal myths of the golden spike, robber barons larger than life, and an innovative capitalism all die here. Instead we have a new vision of the Gilded Age, often darkly funny, that shows history to be rooted in failure as well as success. 8 pages of illustrations Review Required reading for anyone interested in the history of American railroading…This is an exciting story and well told. John Steele Gordon, Wall Street JournalA model of narrative skill and [an] insightful reinterpretation of the Gilded Age. It is easily the best business history I have read. Donald Worster, SlateA scathing and wonderful new book. [Railroaded] will entertain and outrage readers. Buzzy Jackson, Boston GlobeAn acute analysis that in failure came success and in many ways the map of the nation. Scott Martelle, Washington PostImaginative, iconoclastic, immensely informative and mordantly funny. Glenn C. Altschuler, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette About the Author Richard White is the author of many acclaimed histories, including the groundbreaking study of the transcontinentals, Railroaded, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, at Stanford University, and lives near Palo Alto, California...

-Titulo Original : The Globalization Paradox Democracy And The Future Of The World Economy-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Cogent, well-written . . . critiques unalloyed globalization enthusiasts, taking aim at their desire to fully liberalize foreign trade ad capital movements. Foreign Affairs In this eloquent challenge to the reigning wisdom on globalization, Dani Rodrik reminds us of the importance of the nation-state, arguing forcefully that when the social arrangements of democracies inevitably clash with the international demands of globalization, national priorities should take precedence. Combining history with insight, humor with good-natured critique, Rodrik’s case for a customizable globalization supported by a light frame of international rules shows the way to a balanced prosperity as we confront today’s global challenges in trade, finance, and labor markets. Review Required reading for those who seek to prevent the financial crises and unfair trade practices that feed the backlash against the open markets. Nouriel Roubini, coauthor of Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of FinanceDani Rodrik may be globalization’s most prominent and most thoughtful gadfly. In The Globalization Paradox he wonders aloud whether extreme globalization undermines democracy and vice versa. Read it and you’ll wonder too. Alan S. Blinder, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserves Board of GovernorsTakes on the biggest issue of our time globalization and eloquently enlarges the debate about the extent and limits of global cooperation. Gordon Brown, former British Prime MinisterIn this cogent, well-written book, Rodrik, a Harvard economist, critiques unalloyed globalization enthusiasts, taking aim at their desire to fully liberalize foreign trade and capital movements. Richard N. Cooper, Foreign AffairsAlthough [Rodrik’s] message is nuanced and rigorous, drawing on history, logic and the latest economic data, he manages to convey it in simple, powerful prose that any reader can follow. . . . A much-needed addendum to [Adam] Smith’s famous formulation. Steven Pearlstein, Washington PostSimply the best recent treatment of the globalization dilemma that I’ve read, by an economist or anyone else. . . . He gives us nothing less than a general theory of globalization, development, democracy, and the state. The book provides the pleasure of following a thoughtful, critical mind working through a complex puzzle. Rodrik writes in highly friendly and nontechnical prose, blending a wide-ranging knowledge of economic history and politics and a gentle, occasionally incredulous, skepticism about the narrow and distorting lens of his fellow economists. Robert Kuttner, American ProspectA Big Book, one that may shape a new way of thinking about the global economy. . . . The style is conversational, but sweeping and authoritative professorial in the positive sense. Rodrik is less of a polemicist . . . preferring to stay inside the tent, but he can pack a polite punch when necessary. Duncan Green, Oxfam International, author of From Poverty to PowerMr. Rodrik is exactly what the doctor ordered because economics over the past few years has become hyper-politicized (thank you, Paul Krugman) yet never more dismal. Well-written, witty, crafted by an author who doesn’t jump the Freakonomics shark, The Globalization Paradox reminds us that economists don’t exist without data, and data comes, ultimately, from the vision and labor of those in the marketplace. Robert Nersesian, New York Journal of Books About the Author Dani Rodrik, a prize-winning economist, is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at Harvards John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is the author of The Globalization Paradox and Economics Rules...

-Titulo Original : Radical Uncertainty Decision-making Beyond The Numbers-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review An elegant and careful guide to thinking about personal and social economics, especially in a time of uncertainty. The timing is impeccable. Christine Kenneally, New York Times Book ReviewRarely is a book’s publication as well-timed as John Kay and Mervyn King’s Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers. Joseph C. Sternberg, Wall Street JournalIn this profound yet practical book, Kay and King admit the obvious that in crucial domains, we do not, will not, cannot know what is going on and show, nevertheless, how to retain the ability to function. Paul Romer, Nobel laureateMany books will make a reader better informed or smarter. This is one of very few that will make a reader much wiser. You will live differently and better after you grasp Kay and King’s seminal lessons about radical uncertainty. Lawrence H. Summers, US Treasury Secretary 1999-2001, and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard UniversityJohn Kay and Mervyn King want more people to grasp the old distinction between risk and uncertainty forgotten by a later generation of economists. Too many of life’s uncertainties are presented to us as if they are calculable risks, especially in the realm of finance. We should focus on the truly calculable risks, they argue, and stop pretending we can predict situations of radical uncertainty. Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford Much economic advice is bogus quantification, warn two leading experts in this essential book, now with a preface on COVID-19. Invented numbers offer a false sense of security; we need instead robust narratives that give us the confidence to manage uncertainty.“An elegant and careful guide to thinking about personal and social economics, especially in a time of uncertainty. The timing is impeccable. Christine Kenneally, New York Times Book ReviewSome uncertainties are resolvable. The insurance industry’s actuarial tables and the gambler’s roulette wheel both yield to the tools of probability theory. Most situations in life, however, involve a deeper kind of uncertainty, a radical uncertainty for which historical data provide no useful guidance to future outcomes. Radical uncertainty concerns events whose determinants are insufficiently understood for probabilities to be known or forecasting possible. Before President Barack Obama made the fateful decision to send in the Navy Seals, his advisers offered him wildly divergent estimates of the odds that Osama bin Laden would be in the Abbottabad compound. In 2000, no one not least Steve Jobs knew what a smartphone was; how could anyone have predicted how many would be sold in 2020? And financial advisers who confidently provide the information required in the standard retirement planning package what will interest rates, the cost of living, and your state of health be in 2050? demonstrate only that their advice is worthless.The limits of certainty demonstrate the power of human judgment over artificial intelligence. In most critical decisions there can be no forecasts or probability distributions on which we might sensibly rely. Instead of inventing numbers to fill the gaps in our knowledge, we should adopt business, political, and personal strategies that will be robust to alternative futures and resilient to unpredictable events. Within the security of such a robust and resilient reference narrative, uncertainty can be embraced, because it is the source of creativity, excitement, and profit. About the Author John Kay is an economist and Fellow of St. John’s College, University of Oxford.Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England, teaches at New York University and the London School of Economics...

-Titulo Original : Arguing With Zombies Economics, Politics, And The Fight For A Better Future-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: New York Times Bestseller An accessible, compelling introduction to today’s major policy issues from the New York Times columnist, best-selling author, and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, now with a new preface. There is no better guide than Paul Krugman to basic economics, the ideas that animate much of our public policy. Likewise, there is no stronger foe of zombie economics, the misunderstandings that just won’t die. In Arguing with Zombies, Krugman tackles many of these misunderstandings, taking stock of where the United States has come from and where it’s headed in a series of concise, digestible chapters. Drawn mainly from his popular New York Times column, they cover a wide range of issues, organized thematically and framed in the context of a wider debate. Explaining the complexities of health care, housing bubbles, tax reform, Social Security, and so much more with unrivaled clarity and precision, Arguing with Zombies is Krugman at the height of his powers.It is an indispensable guide to two decades’ worth of political and economic discourse in the United States and around the globe, and now includes a preface on Zombies in the Age of COVID-19. With quick, vivid sketches, Krugman turns his readers into intelligent consumers of the daily news and hands them the keys to unlock the concepts behind the greatest economic policy issues of our time. In doing so, he delivers an instant classic that can serve as a reference point for this and future generations. Review “A revelation. It showcases the range of Krugmans intellect… and his gift for clear, accessible writing.” Stephanie Mehta, Washington PostA brilliant scholar and polemicist, Krugman’s incisive columns are a beacon for anyone who cares about public policy and progressive change. David AxelrodYears after appearing in the daily newspaper, Paul Krugman’s columns resonate because he avoids the herd mentality of most journalism. Applying history, math, and humanity, he transforms our understanding of great issues, and when writing on economics translates the dismal science into plain English. David Cay Johnston, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, an IRE Medal, and the George Polk Award About the Author Paul Krugman, recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics and best-selling author, has been a columnist at The New York Times for twenty years. A Distinguished Professor at City University of New York, he lives in New York City...

-Titulo Original : The Management Myth Debunking Modern Business Philosophy-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review Entertaining and slightly shocking. Jill Lepore, The New YorkerConsistently entertaining and enlightening. Harvard Business ReviewGleefully revealing the magician’s tricks, Stewart takes readers on a whirlwind tour of how [the consulting] industry came to be a powerhouse. Filled with fascinating insider anecdotes and featuring a who’s who in the consulting world…this wry, absorbing book will enlighten executives about the value consultants actually bring to their clients. Publishers Weekly A devastating bombardment of managerial thinking and the profession of management consulting…A serious and valuable polemic. Wall Street JournalFresh from Oxford with a degree in philosophy and no particular interest in business, Matthew Stewart might not have seemed a likely candidate to become a consultant. But soon he was telling veteran managers how to run their companies.In narrating his own ill-fated (and often hilarious) odyssey at a top-tier firm, Stewart turns the consultant’s merciless, penetrating eye on the management industry itself. The Management Myth offers an insightful romp through the entire history of thinking about management, a withering critique of pseudoscience in management theory, and a clear explanation of why the MBA usually amounts to so much BS leading us through the wilderness of American business thought. From the Back Cover Praise for The Management Myth At last, a book that knocks the Kings of Consulting off their thrones. The Management Myth is a rare and often very humorous expose on the shenanigans behind the corporate empire that has catapulted us down the current road to economic turmoil.-John Perkins, best-selling author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire Filled with fascinating insider anecdotes and featuring a whos who of the consulting world . . . this book will enlighten executives.-Publishers Weekly About the Author Matthew Stewart is the author of Natures God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic,The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World and The Management Myth: Debunking the Modern Philosophy of Business. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts...

-Titulo Original : Statistics, 4th Edition -Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Renowned for its clear prose and no-nonsense emphasis on core concepts, Statistics covers fundamentals using real examples to illustrate the techniques. The Fourth Edition has been carefully revised and updated to reflect current data. About the Author David Freedman received his B.Sc. from McGill and his Ph.D. from Princeton. He has worked as a consultant for the City of San Francisco, the County of Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Justice. He has written several previous books and numerous technical papers. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.Robert Pisani received his B.A. and Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include probability models of market-price behavior and the statistical valuation of financial instruments.Roger Purves received his B.A. at the University of British Columbia and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, where he currently teaches. His research interests are in the mathematical foundations of probability theory...

-Titulo Original : Medici Money Banking, Metaphysics, And Art In Fifteenth-century Florence (enterprise)-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: “A swift and brilliant synthesis of finance, politics, and history.” Ben Sisario, New York Times Book Review Before they achieved renown as patrons of the arts and de facto rulers of Florence, the Medici family earned their fortune in banking. But even at the height of the Renaissance, charging interest of any kind meant running afoul of the Catholic Church’s ban on usury. Tim Parks reveals how the legendary Medicis Cosimo and Lorenzo “the Magnificent” in particular used the diplomatic, military, and even metaphysical tools at hand, along with a healthy dose of intrigue and wit, to further their fortunes as well as their family’s standing. Review Marvelously entertaining. . . . Parks displays a keen observance of people’s complexities and malleable motives in this account of the fabled Medici dynasty. Gilbert Taylor, BooklistFascinating . . . elegantly told. Business WeekA model for all economic historians. . . . Parks, who is skeptical about bankers, writes about them with pace, wit, and some passion. The Economist About the Author Tim Parks’s acclaimed books about Italy include Italian Ways, Italian Neighbors, and An Italian Education. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. He lives in Italy...

-Titulo Original : Extra Virginity The Sublime And Scandalous World Of Olive Oil-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: [Mueller reveals] the brazen fraud in the olive oil industry and [teaches] readers how to sniff out the good stuff. Dwight Garner, New York TimesFor millennia, fresh olive oil has been one of life’s necessities not just as food but also as medicine, a beauty aid, and a vital element of religious rituals. But this symbol of purity has become deeply corrupt. A superbly crafted combination of cultural history and food manifesto, Extra Virginity takes us on a journey through the world of olive oil, opening our eyes to olive oil’s rich past as well as to the fierce contemporary struggle between oil fraudsters of the globalized food industry and artisan producers whose oil truly deserves the name extra virgin. 8 pages of illustrations Review Tom Mueller is, in turn, chemist, explorer, scholar and bard, infusing the narrative with a sense of wonder. Times Literary SupplementIn covering an industry that has its heroes and villains, author Tom Mueller does a splendid job of sorting out the players and demystifying the product. Russ Parsons, Los Angeles TimesExtra Virginity may make you reconsider the extra you’re paying for extra. Cynthia Crossen, Wall Street JournalPassionately written yet clear-headed…Mueller builds a convincing case for olive oil as one of the most miraculous and versatile substances in all of nature. Jerry Shriver, USA TodayMueller does for his subject what Susan Orlean did for orchids. Columbus Dispatch[Extra Virginity] does for olive oil what Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation did for hamburgers. Mueller traces the history of this valuable product from antiquity to the present, but the really disturbing part is his expose of the inferior quality control and outright fraud among today’s oil producers. Andy Lewis, Hollywood Reporter About the Author Tom Mueller writes for The New Yorker and other publications. He lives in a medieval stone farmhouse surrounded by olive groves in the Ligurian countryside outside of Genoa, Italy...

-Titulo Original : How To Speak Money What The Money People Say And What It Really Means-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review Mixes the helpful, the sarcastic and the entertaining…[with] a touch of Ambrose Bierce’s Devil’s Dictionary about it. Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal SentinelAn idiosyncratic collection of short, sharp essays translating the jargon of finance with admirable concision and wit. Peter Sokolowski, New York Times Book ReviewLays out the case for financial literacy and then provides an essential glossary of terms for those who would like to achieve this happy state. Sarah Lyall, New York TimesA hugely enjoyable book…Lanchester is a kind of brainy Everyman, a brilliant communicator. Melanie Reid, The TimesAn entertaining and informative read…Witty, provocative and engaging. Evening StandardInsightful and often funny…An invaluable primer. Ian Critchley, Sunday TimesOne of the world’s great explainers of the financial crisis and its aftermath. Michael LewisReading this book is like meeting an easy-going guy at a cocktail party who can explain everything that’s always mystified you about high finance ‘inverted yield curve,’ anyone? with sparkle, wit, and crystal clarity. And if you’re already a finance-insider, you’ll get a kick out of Lanchester’s sly ironies. Jim Holt, best-selling author of Why Does the World Exist? Refreshingly clear, sharp, and funny, How to Speak Money will help you understand not only what the language of finance means but also why it matters. James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of CrowdsTo those who don’t speak it, the language of money can seem impenetrable. Fortunately, John Lanchester the best-selling novelist and reporter hailed by The Economist for explain[ing] complex stuff in a down-to-earth and witty style is here to bridge the gap between the money people and the rest of us. With wit and candor, Lanchester explains more than 300 common words and phrases from AAA rating and amortization to yield curve and zombie bank. About the Author John Lanchester is the author of five novels, including The Debt to Pleasure and Capital. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and he is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. He lives in London...

-Titulo Original : People, Power, And Profits Progressive Capitalism For An Age Of Discontent-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: “Urgent work, by the foremost champion of ‘progressive capitalism.’ ” The New YorkerAn authoritative account of the dangers of unfettered markets and monied politics, People, Power, and Profits shows us an America in crisis. The American people, however, are far from powerless, and Joseph Stiglitz provides an alternative path forward through his vision of progressive capitalism, with a comprehensive set of political and economic changes. 2 charts Review The policy shop of every 2020 Democratic candidate for president would be wise to pore over People, Power, and Profits and cherry-pick its best ideas. New York TimesStiglitz offers a comprehensive list of easy-to-understand progressive remedies that will find favor with many readers. Library Journal[Joseph Stiglitz] is an insanely great economist. Paul KrugmanAlong with Krugman and Thomas Piketty, Stiglitz forms a triumvirate of leading economic critics of global capitalism, 21st century-style. Andrew Anthony, Guardian About the Author Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and the best-selling author of Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti- Globalization in the Age of Trump, The Price of Inequality, and Freefall. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, chief economist of the World Bank, named by Time as one of the 100 most influential individuals in the world, and now teaches at Columbia University and is chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute...

-Titulo Original : The Long Fix Solving Americas Health Care Crisis With Strategies That Work For Everyone-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review In The Long Fix, Vivian Lee M.D. crisply diagnoses the imperative to repair America’s health care system and offers understandable principles as a guide. She lights a path forward by applying lessons and observations from her unique experiences as a physician, health system leader, and now technology executive. This book matters to patients and their families. It matters to Americans who care about the economic future of our nation. It especially matters to government leaders and health care executives we depend on to find strategies that work for everyone. Michael O. Leavitt, former governor of Utah and former Secretary of Health and Human ServicesThis is a well-researched and thoughtful book from one of our nation’s leaders in healthcare reform. Dr. Lee has written a practical guide with actionable solutions for policymakers, healthcare providers, and patients a must-read! Dr. Leana S. Wen, visiting professor at George Washington University, former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, and former Baltimore city health commissionerDeeply researched, clearly written, and with a wealth of examples and colorful anecdotes, The Long Fix is necessary reading for anyone seeking to understand and, more importantly, repair our ailing healthcare system. Few people have the breadth and depth of Vivian Lee’s experience, and her pragmatic, results-oriented approach offers a compelling and convincing blueprint for doctors, health care professionals, patients, and legislators, on both sides of the aisle. Eric Schmidt, former CEO of GoogleDr. Lee has drawn upon her extensive experience and a wide range of physician and administrator colleagues to provide a deep understanding of the ailments plaguing the US health care system, accompanied with practical suggestions for how to remedy them. An excellent overview of the problems and potential solutions. Robert S. Kaplan, Senior Fellow, Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, emeritus, Harvard Business SchoolDr. Lee’s book is an insightful diagnostic look at what is not working in American medicine, and why, that is made compelling by her succinct, practical recommendations for what each of us policy-maker, consumer, physician/health professional, and payer can do now to realize the person-centered, high value health care system we all so long for. Karen DeSalvo, chief health officer, Google Health and former US national coordinator for health information technologyA health professional turns an experienced eye toward sensible, ground-level actions to make medical care better and cheaper. KirkusLee speaks with authority.... Especially in light of the coronavirus emergency, Lee’s call for everyone to play a role in ‘the Long Fix’ rings true. BooklistRelevant to all who provide or receive health care in America. Library Journal It may not be a quick fix, but this concrete action plan for reform can create a less costly and healthier system for all.Beyond the outrageous expense, the quality of care varies wildly, and millions of Americans can’t get care when they need it. This is bad for patients, bad for doctors, and bad for business.In The Long Fix, physician and health care CEO Vivian S. Lee, MD, cuts to the heart of the health care crisis. The problem with the way medicine is practiced, she explains, is not so much who’s paying, it’s what we are paying for. Insurers, employers, the government, and individuals pay for every procedure, prescription, and lab test, whether or not it makes us better and that is both backward and dangerous.Dr. Lee proposes turning the way we receive care completely inside out. When doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies are paid to keep people healthy, care improves and costs decrease. Lee shares inspiring examples of how this has been done, from physicians’ practices that prioritize preventative care, to hospitals that adapt lessons from manufacturing plants to make them...

-Titulo Original : Radical Uncertainty Decision-making Beyond The Numbers-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review An elegant and careful guide to thinking about personal and social economics, especially in a time of uncertainty. The timing is impeccable. Christine Kenneally, New York Times Book ReviewRarely is a book’s publication as well-timed as John Kay and Mervyn King’s Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers. Joseph C. Sternberg, Wall Street JournalIn this profound yet practical book, Kay and King admit the obvious that in crucial domains, we do not, will not, cannot know what is going on and show, nevertheless, how to retain the ability to function. Paul Romer, Nobel laureateMany books will make a reader better informed or smarter. This is one of very few that will make a reader much wiser. You will live differently and better after you grasp Kay and King’s seminal lessons about radical uncertainty. Lawrence H. Summers, US Treasury Secretary 1999-2001, and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard UniversityJohn Kay and Mervyn King want more people to grasp the old distinction between risk and uncertainty forgotten by a later generation of economists. Too many of life’s uncertainties are presented to us as if they are calculable risks, especially in the realm of finance. We should focus on the truly calculable risks, they argue, and stop pretending we can predict situations of radical uncertainty. Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford Much economic advice is bogus quantification, warn two leading experts in this essential book. Invented numbers offer false security; we need instead robust narratives that yield the confidence to manage uncertainty.Some uncertainties are resolvable. The insurance industry’s actuarial tables and the gambler’s roulette wheel both yield to the tools of probability theory. Most situations in life, however, involve a deeper kind of uncertainty, a radical uncertainty for which historical data provide no useful guidance to future outcomes. Radical uncertainty concerns events whose determinants are insufficiently understood for probabilities to be known or forecasting possible. Before President Barack Obama made the fateful decision to send in the Navy Seals, his advisers offered him wildly divergent estimates of the odds that Osama bin Laden would be in the Abbottabad compound. In 2000, no one not least Steve Jobs knew what a smartphone was; how could anyone have predicted how many would be sold in 2020? And financial advisers who confidently provide the information required in the standard retirement planning package what will interest rates, the cost of living, and your state of health be in 2050? demonstrate only that their advice is worthless.The limits of certainty demonstrate the power of human judgment over artificial intelligence. In most critical decisions there can be no forecasts or probability distributions on which we might sensibly rely. Instead of inventing numbers to fill the gaps in our knowledge, we should adopt business, political, and personal strategies that will be robust to alternative futures and resilient to unpredictable events. Within the security of such a robust and resilient reference narrative, uncertainty can be embraced, because it is the source of creativity, excitement, and profit. About the Author John Kay is an economist and Fellow of St. John’s College, University of Oxford.Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England, teaches at New York University and the London School of Economics...

-Titulo Original : The Price Of Inequality How Todays Divided Society Endangers Our Future-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review Immensely important. Dante Chinni, Washington PostThe single most comprehensive counterargument to both Democratic neoliberalism and Republican laissez-faire theories…Stiglitz’s contribution…to the public debate cannot be overestimated. Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times Book ReviewA model of clarity. Jared Bernstein, Rolling StoneA definitive examination of inequality’s effects not only on the economy, but on democracy and globalization. The Daily BeastAn impassioned argument backed by rigorous economic analysis. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Stiglitz’s ideas in this book will prompt wide discussion and debate. Booklist A forceful argument against Americas vicious circle of growing inequality by the Nobel Prize-winning economist.The top 1 percent of Americans control some 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. But as Joseph E. Stiglitz explains in this best-selling critique of the economic status quo, this level of inequality is not inevitable. Rather, in recent years well-heeled interests have compounded their wealth by stifling true, dynamic capitalism and making America no longer the land of opportunity that it once was. They have made America the most unequal advanced industrial country while crippling growth, distorting key policy debates, and fomenting a divided society. Stiglitz not only shows how and why America’s inequality is bad for our economy but also exposes the effects of inequality on our democracy and on our system of justice while examining how monetary policy, budgetary policy, and globalization have contributed to its growth. With characteristic insight, he diagnoses our weakened state while offering a vision for a more just and prosperous future. About the Author Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and the best-selling author of Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti- Globalization in the Age of Trump, The Price of Inequality, and Freefall. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, chief economist of the World Bank, named by Time as one of the 100 most influential individuals in the world, and now teaches at Columbia University and is chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute...

-Titulo Original : The Divide Global Inequality From Conquest To Free Markets-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: Review Advocates a strategy of development focused less on material consumption and more on meeting the basic human needs. Accessible to all readers, Hickels revealing and sometimes angry critique will spur deeper thought about the inequities of the global economy. Library Journal (starred)Penetratingly explores those forces that perpetuate global inequality and shreds the notion that the fissure between rich and poor is anything other than intentional. Publishers WeeklySharply argued. . . . Sure to distress the neoliberals in the audience but a powerful case for reform in the cause of economic justice. Kirkus ReviewsAn evolutionary leap in our understanding of inequality and poverty. [The Divide] should be required reading for anyone hoping to realize a better world. Alnoor Ladha, GreenpeaceIn this iconoclastic book, Jason Hickel shakes up the prevailing paradigm of ‘development.’ . . . [The Divide] will radically change the way in which you understand the workings of the global economic system and the challenges faced by poor countries trying to advance within it. Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, author of 23 Things They Don’t Tell You about Capitalism and Economics: The User’s GuideA book that crackles with facts, indignation, and heart. Why hasn’t global poverty and hunger really declined in the last decades?…Journalists, aid workers, and anybody who has ever given aid (i.e., nearly everybody) should read this book. Antony Loewenstein, author of Disaster CapitalismThe Divide is exceptional, necessary, and essential…Written in a captivating and easy-to-read style, this book must become the standard text for everyone studying, working, or interested in development. Firoze Manji, editor of African Awakening: The Emerging RevolutionsWith passion and panache, Jason Hickel tells a very different story of why poverty exists, what progress is, and who we are. The Divide is myth busting at its best. Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1% Global inequality doesn’t just exist; it has been created.More than four billion people some 60 percent of humanity live in debilitating poverty, on less than $5 per day. The standard narrative tells us this crisis is a natural phenomenon, having to do with things like climate and geography and culture. It tells us that all we have to do is give a bit of aid here and there to help poor countries up the development ladder. It insists that if poor countries would only adopt the right institutions and economic policies, they could overcome their disadvantages and join the ranks of the rich world.Anthropologist Jason Hickel argues that this story ignores the broader political forces at play. Global poverty and the growing inequality between the rich countries of Europe and North America and the poor ones of Africa, Asia, and South America has come about because the global economy has been designed over the course of five hundred years of conquest, colonialism, regime change, and globalization to favor the interests of the richest and most powerful nations. Global inequality is not natural or inevitable, and it is certainly not accidental. To close the divide, Hickel proposes dramatic action rooted in real justice: abolishing debt burdens in the global South, democratizing the institutions of global governance, and rolling out an international minimum wage, among many other vital steps. Only then will we have a chance at a world where all begin on more equal footing. About the Author Jason Hickel is an award-winning professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics. His research focuses on globalization, development, and political economy, and he writes regularly for the Guardian. He lives in London...

-Titulo Original : Fur, Fortune, And Empire The Epic History Of The Fur Trade In America-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: A Seattle Times selection for one of Best Non-Fiction Books of 2010 Winner of the New England Historial Associations 2010 James P. Hanlan Award Winner of the Outdoor Writers Association of America 2011 Excellence in Craft Award, Book Division, First Place A compelling and well-annotated tale of greed, slaughter and geopolitics. Los Angeles Times As Henry Hudson sailed up the broad river that would one day bear his name, he grew concerned that his Dutch patrons would be disappointed in his failure to find the fabled route to the Orient. What became immediately apparent, however, from the Indians clad in deer skins and good furs was that Hudson had discovered something just as tantalizing. The news of Hudsons 1609 voyage to America ignited a fierce competition to lay claim to this uncharted continent, teeming with untapped natural resources. The result was the creation of an American fur trade, which fostered economic rivalries and fueled wars among the European powers, and later between the United States and Great Britain, as North America became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations. In Fur, Fortune, and Empire, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin chronicles the rise and fall of the fur trade of old, when the rallying cry was get the furs while they last. Beavers, sea otters, and buffalos were slaughtered, used for their precious pelts that were tailored into extravagant hats, coats, and sleigh blankets. To read Fur, Fortune, and Empire then is to understand how North America was explored, exploited, and settled, while its native Indians were alternately enriched and exploited by the trade. As Dolin demonstrates, fur, both an economic elixir and an agent of destruction, became inextricably linked to many key events in American history, including the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, as well as to the relentless pull of Manifest Destiny and the opening of the West. This work provides an international cast beyond the scope of any Hollywood epic, including Thomas Morton, the rabble-rouser who infuriated the Pilgrims by trading guns with the Indians; British explorer Captain James Cook, whose discovery in the Pacific Northwest helped launch Americas China trade; Thomas Jefferson who dreamed of expanding the fur trade beyond the Mississippi; Americas first multimillionaire John Jacob Astor, who built a fortune on a foundation of fur; and intrepid mountain men such as Kit Carson and Jedediah Smith, who sliced their way through an awe inspiring and unforgiving landscape, leaving behind a mythic legacy still resonates today. Concluding with the virtual extinction of the buffalo in the late 1800s, Fur, Fortune, and Empire is an epic history that brings to vivid life three hundred years of the American experience, conclusively demonstrating that the fur trade played a seminal role in creating the nation we are today. 125 black-and-white illustrations Review Most of all [Dolin] is a scholarly storyteller as fascinating as it is on the economic and political (not to mention the ecological) implications, his is, from first to last, an epic history. [Kerrigan gave Fur, Fortune, and Empire five out of five stars, for a superlative rating] (Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman)Eric Jay Dolins Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America was a wonderful book. He has now surpassed it. . . . [Fur, Fortune, and Empire is] a detailed, even-handed, utterly compelling history of the fur trade . . . Its magnificent. (Jonathan Wright, Geographical Magazine (UK) - the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society)Offering a new way to look at American history, Eric Jay Dolin explains how the fur trade helped to create the nation . . . It is a compelling story . . . . His clean, crisp prose makes this often horrifying narrative utterly fascinating.(Neal Wyatt, Library Journal)Informative . . . The fur trade, as Dolin so vividly describes, was a semin...

-Titulo Original : The Great Divide Unequal Societies And What We Can Do About Them-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: In the face of rising inequality in America, Joseph E. Stiglitz charts a path toward real recovery and a more equal society. A singular voice of reason in an era defined by bitter politics and economic uncertainty, Joseph E. Stiglitz has time and again diagnosed America’s greatest economic challenges, from the Great Recession and its feeble recovery to the yawning gap between the rich and the poor. The Great Divide gathers his most provocative reflections to date on the subject of inequality. As Stiglitz ably argues, a healthy economy and a fairer democracy are within our grasp if we can put aside misguided interests and ideologies and abandon failed policies. Opening with the essay that gave the Occupy Movement its slogan, “We are the 99%,” later essays in The Great Divide reveal equality of opportunity as a national myth, show that today’s outsized inequality is a matter of choice, and explain reforms that would spur higher growth, more opportunity, and greater equality. Review [Joseph Stiglitz] is an insanely great economist. Paul Krugman, New York Times About the Author Joseph E. Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and the best-selling author of Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited: Anti- Globalization in the Age of Trump, The Price of Inequality, and Freefall. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, chief economist of the World Bank, named by Time as one of the 100 most influential individuals in the world, and now teaches at Columbia University and is chief economist of the Roosevelt Institute...

-Titulo Original : The Return Of Depression Economics And The Crisis Of 2008-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: The New York Times bestseller: the Nobel Prize-winning economist shows how today’s crisis parallels the Great Depression and explains how to avoid catastrophe. With a new foreword for this paperback edition. In this major bestseller, Paul Krugman warns that, like diseases that have become resistant to antibiotics, the economic maladies that caused the Great Depression have made a comeback. He lays bare the 2008 financial crisis the greatest since the 1930s tracing it to the failure of regulation to keep pace with an out-of-control financial system. He also tells us how to contain the crisis and turn around a world economy sliding into a deep recession. Brilliantly crafted in Krugman’s trademark style lucid, lively, and supremely informed this new edition of The Return of Depression Economics has become an instant classic. A hard-hitting new foreword takes the paperback edition right up to the present moment. Review Krugman s facility with both arcane details and vast unified explanations boils down complexity so much that the reader often wonders: Why didn t I see it that way myself? The most celebrated economist of his generation. Krugman s facility with both arcane details and vast unified explanations boils down complexity so much that the reader often wonders: Why didn t I see it that way myselfThe most celebrated economist of his generation. About the Author Paul Krugman, recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics and best-selling author, has been a columnist at The New York Times for twenty years. A Distinguished Professor at City University of New York, he lives in New York City...

-Titulo Original : Leviathan The History Of Whaling In America-Fabricante : W. W. Norton & Company-Descripcion Original: A Los Angeles Times Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007 A Boston Globe Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007 Editors pick as one of the 10 best history books of 2007 Winner of the 2007 John Lyman Award for U. S. Maritime History, given by the North American Society for Oceanic History The best history of American whaling to come along in a generation. Nathaniel Philbrick The epic history of the iron men in wooden boats who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme, Herman Melville proclaimed, and this absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins his vivid narrative with Captain John Smiths botched whaling expedition to the New World in 1614. He then chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry from its brutal struggles during the Revolutionary period to its golden age in the mid-1800s when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and American whale oil lit the world, to its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs. Containing a wealth of naturalistic detail on whales, Leviathan is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades. Review I thought I learned everything I needed to know about whaling from Melville, but I was wrong. Eric Jay Dolins Leviathan exposes the rise and fall of the industry inspired by the great beasts of the deep . . . The excitement of the stories in this magnificently researched saga build and build. (Dava Sobel, Author of Longitude)Dolin handles this long, complex tale with great skill, both as a historian and as a writer. Thanks to his firm command of the tales narrative drive, Leviathan is thoroughly engaging. (John Steele Gordon, The Wall Street Journal)A pleasantly anecdotal history of American whaling so comprehensive that he seems to have harpooned at least one fact from every cetacean text ever printed. Leviathan is a gentle book about a brutal industry. (Caleb Crain, The New Yorker)Leviathan will appeal most to history buffs and ocean lovers. . . . Exotic locations, colorful characters, melodrama and gore aplenty, but also food for thought. (Debby Applegate, Los Angeles Times)This volume reads like a history of America through whaling. . . . With a historians diligence and a trivia nuts eye for oddities. He reels in the big one. (Troy Patterson, Entertainment Weekly) About the Author Eric Jay Dolin is the best-selling author of fourteen books. His most recent is A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of Americas Hurricanes, which received a number of accolades, including being chosen by the Washington Post as one of 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020, by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 (in addition to being a Kirkus Prize finalist), by the Library Journal and Booklist as one of the Best Science & Technology Books of 2020, and by the New York Times Book Review as an Editors Choice. Other books include Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, which was chosen as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007 by the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, and also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History; and Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of Americas Most Notorious Pirates, which was chosen as a Must-Read book for 2019 by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and was a finalist for the 2019 Julia Ward Howe Award given by the Boston Authors Club. A graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his Ph.D. in environmental policy, Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family...