Niall Ferguson strana 2 z 3

If in the year 1411 you had been able to circumnavigate the globe, you would have been most impressed by the dazzling civilizations of the Orient. The Forbidden City was under construction in Ming Beijing; in the Near East, the Ottomans were closing in on Constantinople. By contrast, England would have struck you as a miserable backwater ravaged by plague, bad sanitation and incessant war. The other quarrelsome kingdoms of Western Europe – Aragon, Castile, France, Portugal and Scotland – would have seemed little better. As for fifteenth-century North America, it was an anarchic wilderness compared with the realms of the Aztecs and Incas. The idea that the West would come to dominate the Rest for most of the next half millennium would have struck you as wildly fanciful. And yet it happened. What was it about the civilization of Western Europe that allowed it to trump the outwardly superior empires of the Orient? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, was that th e West developed six “killer applications” that the Rest lacked: competition, science, democracy, medicine, consumerism and the work ethic. The key question today is whether or not the West has lost its monopoly on these six things. If so, Ferguson warns, we may be living through the end of Western ascendancy. Civilization takes readers on their own extraordinary journey around the world – from the Grand Canal at Nanjing to the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul; from Machu Picchu in the Andes to Shark Island, Namibia; from the proud towers of Prague to the secret churches of Wenzhou. It is the story of sailboats, missiles, land deeds, vaccines, blue jeans and Chinese Bibles. It is the defining narrative of modern world history.

A XX. század az emberiség történetének messzemenően legvéresebb százada. A "gyűlölet évszázada" az első világháborút megelőző konfliktusokkal kezdődött, és a hidegháború utórezgéseinek számító háborúskodásokkal végződött. Hogyan magyarázható meg az erőszak megdöbbentő mértéke és hevessége, amikor a tudomány és a gazdaság fejlődésének köszönhetően az emberiség jelentős része jobban élt, mint korábban bármikor? Miért torkollhatott a fejlődés népirtásba? Mik voltak például a holokauszt okai? Niall Ferguson talán legjelentősebb könyvében a rá jellemző éleslátással, elevenséggel és eredetiséggel kísérli meg felfejteni, mi romolhatott el a modern kor beköszöntével. A történeti, gazdasági és evolúciós elméletek úttörő jellegű összekapcsolása révén "A világ háborúja" forradalmi módon újraértelmezi a modern kort.

The decline of the West is something that has long been prophesied. Symptoms of decline are all around us today, it seems: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations, anti-social behaviour. But what exactly is amiss with Western civilization? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions - the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail - are degenerating. Representative government, the free market, the rule of law and civil society: these were once the four pillars of West European and North American societies. It was these institutions, rather than any geographical or climatic advantages, that set the West on the path to global dominance after around 1500. In our time, however, these institutions have deteriorated in disturbing ways. Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping IOUs on our children and grandchildren. Our markets are increasingly distorted by over-complex regulations that are in fact the disease of which they purport to be the cure. The rule of law has metamorphosed into the rule of lawyers. And civil society has degenerated into uncivil society, where we lazily expect all our problems to be solved by the state. "The Degeneration of the West" a powerful - and in places polemical - indictment of an era of negligence and complacency. While the Arab world struggles to adopt democracy, and while China struggles to move from economic liberalization to the rule of law, Europeans and Americans alike are frittering away the institutional inheritance of centuries. To arrest the degeneration of the West's once dominant civilization, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform. This book is based on Niall Ferguson's 2012 BBC Reith Lectures, which were broadcast under the title "The Rule of Law and Its Enemies".

Selected as a "Daily Telegraph" Book of the Year, Niall Ferguson's "Civilization: The Six Killer Apps of Western Power" is a vital, brilliant look at the winning tools of Western power. Competition - How Europe's small, piratical states built modern capitalism. Science - How innovation gave the West the military edge. Property Rights - How the laws of private property built the United States. Medicine - How colonialism transformed the world's health. The Consumer Society - How shopping made the industrial revolution. The Work Ethic - How Western religious ideas brought it all together. But has the West now lost its monopoly on these six things? Or is this the end of Western ascendancy? "A dazzling history of Western ideas ...epic". ("Economist"). "Vivid and fascinating". ("Daily Telegraph"). "Superb ...brings history alive ...dazzling". ("Independent"). "This is sharp. It feels urgent. Ferguson ...twists his knife with great literary brio". (Andrew Marr, "Financial Times"). Niall Ferguson is one of Britain's most renowned historians. He is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the bestselling author of "Paper and Iron", "The House of Rothschild", "The Pity of War", "The Cash Nexus", "Empire", "Colossus", "The War of the World" and "The Ascent of Money". He also writes regularly for newspapers and magazines all over the world.

Niall Ferguson's bestselling "Empire" is the compelling story of how the British empire rose to power - and why it finally fell. Once vast swathes of the globe were coloured imperial red and Britannia ruled not just the waves, but the prairies of America, the plains of Asia, the jungles of Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Just how did a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic achieve all this? And why did the empire on which the sun literally never set finally decline and fall? Niall Ferguson's acclaimed "Empire" brilliantly unfolds the imperial story in all its splendours and its miseries, showing how a gang of buccaneers and gold-diggers planted the seed of the biggest empire in all history - and set the world on the road to modernity. "The most brilliant British historian of his generation...Ferguson examines the roles of "pirates, planters, missionaries, mandarins, bankers and bankrupts" in the creation of history's largest empire ...he writes with splendid panache ...and a seemingly effortless, debonair wit". (Andrew Roberts). "Dazzling ...wonderfully readable". ("New York Review of Books"). "A remarkably readable precis of the whole British imperial story - triumphs, deceits, decencies, kindnesses, cruelties and all". (Jan Morris). ""Empire" is a pleasure to read and brims with insights and intelligence". ("Sunday Times"). Niall Ferguson is one of Britain's most renowned historians. He is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the bestselling author of "Civilization", "The House of Rothschild", "The Cash Nexus", "The Pity of War", "Colossus", "The War of the World" and "The Ascent of Money".

Niall Ferguson's "The Pity of War: 1914-1918" is a provocative and boldly-conceived history that explodes many of the myths surrounding the First World War. The First World War killed around eight million men and bled Europe dry. In this provocative book Niall Ferguson asks: was the sacrifice worth it? Was it all really an inevitable cataclysm and were the Germans a genuine threat? Was the war, as is often asserted, greeted with popular enthusiasm? Why did men keep on fighting when conditions were so wretched? Was there in fact a death wish abroad, driving soldiers to their own destruction? The war, he argues, was a disaster - but not for the reasons we think. Far worse than a tragedy, it was the greatest error of modern history. "Must take a permanent place at the top of the War's historiography. It is one of the very few books whose own scale matches that of the events it describes". (Alan Clark, "Daily Telegraph"). "Possibly the most important book to appear in years both on the origins of the First World War...Ferguson can confidently claim to have inherited A. J. P. Taylor's mantle". (Paul Kennedy, "New York Review of Books"). "At one massive stroke, Niall Ferguson has transformed the intellectual landscape". (Economist Niall). Ferguson is one of Britain's most renowned historians. He is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford and a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the bestselling author of "Civilization", "The House of Rothschild", "The Pity of War", "The Cash Nexus", "Empire", "Colossus", "The War of the World" and "The Ascent of Money".

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, loot. Call it what you like, it matters now more than ever. In "The Ascent of Money", Niall Ferguson shows that finance is the foundation of all human progress and the lifeblood of history. From the cash injection that funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that sparked the French Revolution, from the bonds that fueled Britain's war effort to the Wall Street Crash and today's meltdown, this is the story of boom and bust as it's never been told before. Whether you're scraping by or rolling in it, there's no better time to understand the ascent of money.

In his rich and nuanced portrait of the remarkable, elusive Rothschild family, Oxford scholar and bestselling author Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family's phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family's vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. And he tells a family saga, tracing the importance of unity and the profound role of Judaism in the lives of a dynasty that rose from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto and later used its influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe. A definitive work of impeccable scholarship with a thoroughly engaging narrative, "The House of Rothschild" is a biography of the rarest kind, in which mysterious and fascinating historical figures finally spring to life.

A major work of economic, social and political history, Niall Ferguson's "The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker 1849-1999" is the second volume of the acclaimed, landmark history of the legendary Rothschild banking dynasty. Niall Ferguson's "House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848" was hailed as a 'great biography' by "Time" magazine and named one of the best books of 1998 by "Business Week". Now, with all the depth, clarity and drama with which he traced their ascent, Ferguson - the first historian with access to the long-lost Rothschild family archives - concludes his myth-breaking portrait of once of the most fascinating and power families of all time. From Crimea to World War II, wars repeatedly threatened the stability of the Rothschilds' worldwide empire. Despite these many global upheavals, theirs remained the biggest bank in the world up until the First World War, their interests extending far beyond the realm of finance. Yet the Rothschilds' failure to establish themselves successfully in the United States proved fateful, and as financial power shifted from London to New York after 1914, their power waned. "A stupendous achievement, a triumph of historical research and imagination". (Robert Skidelsky, "The New York Review of Books"). "Niall Ferguson's brilliant and altogether enthralling two-volume family saga proves that academic historians can still tell great stories that the rest of us want to read". ("The New York Times Book Review"). "Superb...An impressive...account of the Rothschilds and their role in history". ("Boston Globe"). Niall Ferguson is one of Britain's most renowned historians. He is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and a Senior Research Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. He is the bestselling author of "The Pity of War", "The Ascent of Money", "Empire, Colossus", "The War of the World" and "Civilization".

The decline of the West is something that has long been prophesied. Symptoms of decline are all around us today: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations. But what exactly is amiss with Western civilization? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions - the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail - are degenerating. Representative government, the free market, the rule of law and civil society were once the four pillars of West European and North American societies. In our time, however, these institutions have deteriorated. The Great Degeneration is a powerful indictment of an era of negligence and complacency. While the Arab world struggles to adopt democracy, and while China struggles to move from economic liberalization to the rule of law, the West is frittering away the institutional inheritance of centuries. To arrest the decline, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform. The decline of the West is something that has long been prophesied. Symptoms of decline are all around us today, it seems: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations, anti-social behaviour. But what exactly is amiss with Western civilization? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions - the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail - are degenerating. Representative government, the free market, the rule of law and civil society: these were once the four pillars of West European and North American societies. It was these institutions, rather than any geographical or climatic advantages, that set the West on the path to global dominance after around 1500. In our time, however, these institutions have deteriorated in disturbing ways. Our democracies have broken the contract between the generations by heaping IOUs on our children and grandchildren. Our markets are increasingly distorted by over-complex regulations that are in fact the disease of which they purport to be the cure. The rule of law has metamorphosed into the rule of lawyers. And civil society has degenerated into uncivil society, where we lazily expect all our problems to be solved by the state. "The Degeneration of the West" a powerful - and in places polemical - indictment of an era of negligence and complacency. While the Arab world struggles to adopt democracy, and while China struggles to move from economic liberalization to the rule of law, Europeans and Americans alike are frittering away the institutional inheritance of centuries. To arrest the degeneration of the West's once dominant civilization, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership and radical reform. This book is based on Niall Ferguson's 2012 BBC Reith Lectures, which were broadcast under the title "The Rule of Law and Its Enemies".

"Dohány, fitying, lé, lóvé, steksz, suska, zseton, zsozsó: bárhogyan nevezzük, a pénz így is, úgy is számít. A keresztények szerint minden rossznak gyökere a pénz szerelme, a hadvezérek számára a háborúk mozgatórugója, a forradalmároknál a munka béklyója. De pontosan mi is a pénz? Egy nagy ezüst hegy, ahogyan azt a spanyol hódítók gondolták? Vagy az agyagtábla és a nyomtatott papír is megteszi? És vajon hogyan jutottunk mára odáig, hogy a pénz nagy része gyakorlatilag láthatatlan, és alig több mint a számítógép képernyőjén megjelenő számsor? Honnan ered a pénz? És hová tűnt? Valamennyi fontos történelmi mozzanat mögött pénzügyi titok rejlik, és könyvemben a legjelentősebbekre igyekszem rávilágítani. A reneszánsz korában például azért alakulhatott ki olyan óriási piaci igény a művészetre és az építészetre, mert az olasz bankárok, így a Mediciek is, hatalmas vagyonokra tettek szert a keleti matematika pénzügyi alkalmazásával. A Holland Köztársaság amiatt tudott a Habsburg Birodalom fölé kerekedni, mert pénzügyi szempontból nagyobb előnynek bizonyult az első modern értéktőzsde, mint a világ legnagyobb ezüstbányája. A francia királyság problémáira pedig azért a forradalom lett végül a megoldás, mert egy elítélt skót gyilkos miatt kialakult az első értékpapír-piaci buborék és tőzsdei összeomlás, amely gyakorlatilag csődbe vitte a francia pénzügyi rendszert. Ugyanígy: Napóleon waterlooi veresége legalább annyira Nathan Rothschildnek köszönhető, mint Wellington hercegének. Argentína pedig hiába volt a világ hatodik leggazdagabb országa az 1880-as években, a pénzügyi ostobaság és az önpusztító leértékelődés miatt az 1980-as évekre infláció tépázta csődtömeggé vált. Könyvem arra is rámutat, hogy paradox módon miért a világ legbiztonságosabb országában kötik a legtöbb biztosítást az emberek. Kiderül: mikor és miért alakult ki az angolszász országok különös vonzalma az ingatlan-adásvétel iránt. A leglényegesebb pedig, hogy a könyv segítségével az olvasók is megértik, miként mosta el a fejlett és a feltörekvő piacok közötti hagyományos határvonalat a pénzügyek globalizációja, és hogyan lett így Kína Amerika bankára - kialakítva ezzel a kommunista hitelező és kapitalista adós korszakos jelentőségű kettősét." (a Szerző)

Nejnovější kniha anglického historika Nialla Fergusona představuje velmi nápaditý pokus o konfrontaci civilizačního střetávání se Západu se „zbytkem světa“ od antiky až po naši současnost. Esejistickou formou, obdobně jako ve velmi úspěšné knize Vzestup peněz, se Ferguson pokouší odpovědět na otázku, proč se západní civilizace stala ve světě v moderní době zcela dominantní, ačkoli k tomu postrádala jakékoli předpoklady a ačkoli z hlediska technických inovací za „zbytkem světa“ v mnohém velmi pokulhávala. Spolu s tím se ale zároveň táže, jaký bude vývoj západní civilizace, zda si tuto dominanci, kterou postupem doby ve střetu s asijskými tygry a s fundamentálním islámem poněkud začíná ztrácet, udrží, a pokud ano, jakou cenu za to bude muset zaplatit.

Symptomy úpadku dnes vidíme všude kolem sebe: zpomalování růstu, drtivé zadlužení, narůstající nerovnost, stárnutí populace, protispolečenské jednání. Co přesně se vlastně pokazilo? Podle Fergusona je problém v tom, že se rozkládají naše instituce – zastupitelská vláda, volný trh, zákony a občanská společnost. Rozpad institucí je příčinou ekonomické stagnace i geopolitického úpadku. Aby se tyto procesy zastavily, bude třeba nebojácných vůdců a radikálních reforem.

14% off Kissinger: 1923-1968: The Idealist Volume One Hardback| Allen Lane| English By (author) Niall Ferguson Share ? ? ? ? 41,72 €48,76 € You save 7,04 € Free delivery worldwide Available Dispatched from the UK in 3 business days When will my order arrive? Add to basketAdd to wishlist No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Hailed by some as the "indispensable man", whose advice has been sought by every president from John F Kennedy to George W Bush, Kissinger has also attracted immense hostility from critics who have cast him as an amoral Machiavellian - the ultimate cold-blooded "realist". In this remarkable new book, the first of two volumes, Niall Ferguson has created an extraordinary panorama of Kissinger's world, and a paradigm-shifting reappraisal of the man. Only through knowledge of Kissinger's early life (as a Jew in Hitler's Germany, a poor immigrant in New York, a GI at the Battle of the Bulge, an interrogator of Nazis, and a student of history at Harvard) can we understand his debt to the philosophy of idealism. And only by tracing his rise, fall and revival as an adviser to Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller and, finally, Richard Nixon can we appreciate the magnitude of his contribution to the theory of diplomacy, grand strategy and nuclear deterrence. Drawing not only on Kissinger's hitherto closed private papers but also on documents from more than a hundred archives around the world, this biography is Niall Ferguson's masterpiece. Like his classic two-volume history of the House of Rothschild, Kissinger sheds dazzling new light on an entire era.

Niall Ferguson korunk ismert brit történésze, a Harvard Egyetem történészprofesszora, az oxfordi Jesus College vezető kutatója, illetve a stanfordi Hoover Intézet tudományos főmunkatársa. A világ száz - egyesek szerint húsz - legbefolyásosabb embere között tartják számon. Rendszeresen publikál a világ számos napilapjában és folyóiratában. Sokak által vitatott álláspontja szerint a történelemben nincsenek kitaposott ösvények, semmi nincs determinálva, nem a nagy erők formálják a jövőt, hanem az egyének cselekedetein múlik, hogy jobb vagy rosszabb világban fogunk-e élni. Könyveiből a megjelenéssel egy időben filmsorozatok készültek, melyeket Magyarországon is bemutatták. Mi volt a nyugat-európai civilizációban, ami lehetővé tette, hogy a fejlettebb keleti birodalmak fölé emelkedjen? Niall Ferguson szerint a válasz a Nyugat hat "gyilkos alkalmazás"-ában keresendő: a verseny, a tudomány, a demokrácia, az orvostudomány, a fogyasztás és a munkaetika. Manapság a kulcskérdés az, vajon elveszítette-e a Nyugat a monopóliumát ezeken a területeken. Amennyiben igen, elképzelhető, hogy a Nyugat fénykorának végére értünk, figyelmeztet Ferguson. A "Civilizáció" című mű különleges világ körüli utazásra hívja olvasóit: a nankingi Nagy- csatornától az isztambuli Topkapi palotáig; az Andokban fekvő Machu Picchutól a namíbiai Shark-szigetig, Prága büszke tornyaitól Vencsou számos titkos templomáig. Vitorlásokról, hittérítőkről, földtulajdonosi okiratokról, oltásokról, a farmernadrágról és a kínai bibliákról szól ez a történet.

'Riveting ...this will be his masterpiece' - Andrew Roberts, The New York Times 'For big, bold and compelling, it is impossible to ignore Kissinger' - John Bew, New Statesman, Books of the Year 'This is a superb history of the modern world as well as a biography of Kissinger ...a tour de force' William Shawcross, The Times No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Hailed by some as the "indispensable man", whose advice has been sought by every president from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, Kissinger has also attracted immense hostility from critics who have cast him as an amoral Machiavellian - the ultimate cold-blooded "realist". In this remarkable new book, the first of two volumes, Niall Ferguson has created an extraordinary panorama of Kissinger's world, and a paradigm-shifting reappraisal of the man. Only through knowledge of Kissinger's early life (as a Jew in Hitler's Germany, a poor immigrant in New York, a GI at the Battle of the Bulge, an interrogator of Nazis, and a student of history at Harvard) can we understand his debt to the philosophy of idealism. And only by tracing his rise, fall and revival as an adviser to Kennedy, Nelson Rockefeller and, finally, Richard Nixon can we appreciate the magnitude of his contribution to the theory of diplomacy, grand strategy and nuclear deterrence. Drawing not only on Kissinger's hitherto closed private papers but also on documents from more than a hundred archives around the world, this biography is Niall Ferguson's masterpiece. Like his classic two-volume history of the House of Rothschild, Kissinger sheds dazzling new light on an entire era.