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A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World
by William J. Bernstein
from Atlantic Monthly Press
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 
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Something new on every page 
What could be more boring than a book about the history of trade? This may well be the thought that passes through most people's minds when they contemplate the rich cover of Bernstein's latest tome. Yet such an expectation turns out to be totally incorrect. A Splendid Exchange is also A Splendid Read.
Bernstein has a remarkable ability to inter-leave arcane details with big-picture perspectives and the result is a work that delights as it informs. I personally learned something new on almost every... more info
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Engaging Romp through History from an Economist
It is not often that the history of the world is told by an economist in such a readable and entertaining fashion.
Much of popular history is written for us from the point of view of political power, military conquest, religious conversion or ideological domination. The roles of consumption and trade in shaping the course of history is often forgotten because economic historians rarely produce popular reading and popular historians rarely mention economics.
Bernstein's book is a wonderful journey... more info
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The Urge to Trade
For those who like their history on a broad canvas, this book will certainly satisfy. William Bernstein, who has written books on finance and economics, including The Birth of Plenty : How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created, takes a look at global trade from ancient Sumeria to the present day. He has written in the words of David Landes a "big history," taking one idea or observation and tracing through the ages.
That trade has always existed and that it is beneficial is not exactly a new... more info
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A Disappointing letdown 
Unfortunately, this is not a serious work of history, and is full of contradictions of 'facts' in addition to mistakes. The list of references is impressively long, but often irrelevant. There were many passages in which the author seemed to have suspended incredulity of his references. The subtitle "How Trade Shaped the World", while perhaps not chosen by the author, leads the reader to believe that the explanation will be found in the book. However, those expectations were dashed. There are major... more info
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