W. W. Norton & Company

As the stock market crash of 1929 plunged the world into turmoil, two men emerged with competing claims on how to restore balance to economies gone awry. John Maynard Keynes, the mercurial Cambridge economist, believed that government had a duty to spend when others would not. He met his opposite in a little-known Austrian economics professor, Freidrich Hayek, who considered attempts to intervene both pointless and potentially dangerous. The battle lines thus drawn, Keynesian economics would dominate for decades and coincide with an era of unprecedented prosperity, but conservative economists and political leaders would eventually embrace and execute Hayek's contrary vision. From their first face-to-face encounter to the heated arguments between their ardent disciples, Nicholas Wapshott here unearths the contemporary relevance of Keynes and Hayek, as present-day arguments over the virtues of the free market and government intervention rage with the same ferocity as they did in the 1930s.

The Great Recession is more than four years old - and counting. Yet, as Nobel Prize winning author Paul Krugman argues in this powerful new book, "Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge - all the ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all - remain in a state of intense pain." In End This Depression Now! Krugman shows how the failure of regulation to keep pace with an increasingly out-of-control financial system positioned the United States and the world as a whole, for the greatest financial crisis since the 1930s. Decrying the tepid response thus far, he lays out the steps that must be taken to free ourselves and turn around a world economy stagnating in deep recession. His is a powerful message: a strong recovery is only one step away, if our leaders find the intellectual clarity and political will to see it through. What about the UK? In his chapter on "Austerians", Krugman states that only one government is "engaging in unforced austerity because it believed in the confidence fairy: Prime Minster David Cameron's government in Britain." He describes how Cameron's policies are based primarily to build confidence. However, "business confidence fell to levels not seen since the worst of the crisis and consumer confidence fell even below the levels of 2008-9. The result is an economy that remains deeply depressed...Yet Cameron and Osborne remain adamant that they will not change course." Krugman praises the Bank of England, which continues to do what it can to mitigate the slump. What about Europe? Krugman looks at whether the economic collapse in Europe would have happened regardless of the US crash, what the causes of the European crisis were and why it came as such a shock. The romance of the idea of the single currency led European leaders to brush aside the known objections and the risks in a crisis were never addressed. He discusses how long the euro will be seen as a unifying currency when there are such stark differences between the economic situations of countries that have adopted it. Peripheral European countries are now entering austerity-induced depressions and they are systematically denying a future to their young people. Leaving the euro looks as though it may be the last chance for the worst hit countries, with no realistic alternative for recovery. The prognosis for the core of Europe does not have to be so bleak but countries must act now. Worryingly though, every small uptick in the economic news is being used to shore up the austerity mantra. This is Krugman at his best - direct, clear, never afraid to apportion blame at any level. A passionate plea for common sense, dedicated "to the unemployed, who deserve better", End This Depression Now! will become an instant cornerstone in the debate over how to respond to the crisis. With characteristic lucidity and insight, Krugman pursues the questions of how bad the situation really is, how we got stuck in what can now be called a depression and above all, how we free ourselves. He has a powerful message for anyone who has suffered over these past four years - a quick, strong recovery is just one step away, if our leaders can find the "intellectual clarity and political will" to end this depression now.

America currently has the most inequality, and the least equality of opportunity, among the advanced countries. While market forces play a role in this stark picture, politics has shaped those market forces. In this best-selling book, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz exposes the efforts of well-heeled interests to compound their wealth in ways that have stifled true, dynamic capitalism. Along the way he examines the effect of inequality on our economy, our democracy, and our system of justice. Stiglitz explains how inequality affects and is affected by every aspect of national policy, and with characteristic insight he offers a vision for a more just and prosperous future, supported by a concrete program to achieve that vision.

Especially in the wake of the financial meltdown, readers will welcome Burton G. Malkiel's reassuring, authoritative, gimmick-free and perennially best-selling guide to investing. Long established as the first book to purchase before starting a portfolio, A Random Walk Down Wall Street features new material on the Great Recession and the global credit crisis as well as an increased focus on the long-term potential of emerging markets. Malkiel also evaluates the full range of investment opportunities in today's volatile markets, from stocks, bonds and money markets to real estate investment trusts and insurance, home ownership, and tangible assets such as gold and collectibles. These comprehensive insights, along with the book's classic life-cycle guide to investing, chart a course for anyone seeking a calm route through the turbulent waters of the financial markets.

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.

The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a pinata stuffed with cash and allow as many citizens as possible to take a whack at it. The Germans wanted to be even more German; the Irish wanted to stop being Irish. Michael Lewis's investigation of bubbles beyond our shores is so brilliantly, sadly hilarious that it leads the American reader to a comfortable complacency: oh, those foolish foreigners. But when he turns a merciless eye on California and Washington, DC, we see that the narrative is a trap baited with humor, and we understand the reckoning that awaits the greatest and greediest of debtor nations.

As the crash of 1929 plunged the world economy into turmoil, two men emerged with competing claims on how to restore balance. John Maynard Keynes, the mercurial Cambridge economist, believed that government had a duty to spend. He met his opposite in a little-known Austrian economics professor, Friedrich Hayek, who considered attempts to intervene pointless and potentially dangerous. From their first face-to-face encounter to the heated arguments between their ardent disciples, Nicholas Wapshott unearths the contemporary relevance of Keynes and Hayek, as present-day arguments over the virtues of the free market and government intervention rage with the same ferocity as they did in the 1930s.

Brilliantly demonstrated in "Thinking Strategically" [ISBN 978 0 393 31035 1], game theory is bursting with lessons for us all ("The Observer"). Here the authors provide the long-awaited sequel. Game theory means rigorous strategic thinking. It's the art of anticipating your opponent's next moves; knowing that your rival is trying to do the same thing to you. Though parts of game theory involve common sense, much is counterintuitive and it can only be mastered by developing a new way of seeing the world. Using case studies, the authors show how nearly every business and personal interaction has a game theory component to it. The authors look at questions such as whether the winners of reality-TV contests are instinctive game theorists or if big-time investors see things that most people miss and what great poker players know that the average person doesn't. Mastering game theory will make the reader more successful in business and life: this lively book is the key to that mastery.

To identify the economic stars of the future we should abandon the habit of extrapolating from the recent past and lumping wildly diverse countries together. We need to remember that sustained economic success is a rare phenomenon. After years of rapid growth, the most celebrated emerging markets--Brazil, Russia, India, and China--are about to slow down. Which countries will rise to challenge them? In his best-selling book, writer and investor Ruchir Sharma identifies which countries are most likely to leap ahead and why, drawing insights from time spent on the ground and detailed demographic, political, and economic analysis. With a new chapter on America's future economic prospects, Breakout Nations offers a captivating picture of the shifting balance of global economic power among emerging nations and the West.

The real story of the crash began in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn't shine and the SEC doesn't dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can't pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren't talking. Michael Lewis creates a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 bestseller Liar's Poker. Out of a handful of unlikely-really unlikely-heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our time.

Fundamental elements of garden and landscape architecture, walls define borders, create spaces and provide protection. This book introduces the rich design potential of this structural element, offering a systematic set of guidelines and an inspiring store of models for designers, builders, horticulturists and landscape architects.

In this eye-opening look at the new computer revolution and its consequences, Nicholas Carr explains why computing is changing and what this means for all of us. A hundred years ago, companies stopped producing their own power and plugged into the newly built electric grid. The cheap power pumped out by electricity providers not only changed how businesses operated but also brought the modern world into existence. Today a similar revolution is under way as companies dismantle their private computer systems and tap into rich services delivered over the Internet. Computing is turning into a utility. The shift is remaking the computer industry, bringing competitors like Google to the fore and threatening traditional stalwarts like Microsoft. The effects will reach further as cheap computing changes society as profoundly as cheap electricity did. In this lucid and compelling book Carr weaves together history, economics and technology to explain the "big switch".

Not afraid of interviewing the world's most notorious financiers or of revealing the treachery and deception behind some of the biggest financial deals ever made, in this book, Lewis provides a contemporary record of the ups and downs of the world's money markets and the rise and fall of some of the larger-than-life personalities.

Building on the international bestseller Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph E. Stiglitz offers here an agenda of inventive solutions to our most pressing economic, social, and environmental challenges, with each proposal guided by the fundamental insight that economic globalization continues to outpace both the political structures and the moral sensitivity required to ensure a just and sustainable world. As economic interdependence continues to gather the peoples of the world into a single community, it brings with it the need to think and act globally. This trenchant, intellectually powerful, and inspiring book is an invaluable step in that process.

The Great Recession, as it has come to be called, has impacted more people worldwide than any crisis since the Great Depression. Flawed government policy and unscrupulous personal and corporate behavior in the United States created the current financial meltdown, which was exported across the globe with devastating consequences. The crisis has sparked an essential debate about America s economic missteps, the soundness of this country s economy, and even the appropriate shape of a capitalist system. Few are more qualified to comment during this turbulent time than Joseph E. Stiglitz. Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, Stiglitz is an insanely great economist, in ways you can t really appreciate unless you re deep into the field (Paul Krugman, New York Times). In Freefall, Stiglitz traces the origins of the Great Recession, eschewing easy answers and demolishing the contention that America needs more billion-dollar bailouts and free passes to those too big to fail, while also outlining the alternatives and revealing that even now there are choices ahead that can make a difference. The system is broken, and we can only fix it by examining the underlying theories that have led us into this new bubble capitalism. Ranging across a host of topics that bear on the crisis, Stiglitz argues convincingly for a restoration of the balance between government and markets. America as a nation faces huge challenges in health care, energy, the environment, education, and manufacturing and Stiglitz penetratingly addresses each in light of the newly emerging global economic order. An ongoing war of ideas over the most effective type of capitalist system, as well as a rebalancing of global economic power, is shaping that order. The battle may finally give the lie to theories of a rational market or to the view that America s global economic dominance is inevitable and unassailable. For anyone watching with indignation while a reckless Wall Street destroyed homes, educations, and jobs; while the government took half-steps hoping for a just-enough recovery; and while bankers fell all over themselves claiming not to have seen what was coming, then sought government bailouts while resisting regulation that would make future crises less likely, Freefall offers a clear accounting of why so many Americans feel disillusioned today and how we can realize a prosperous economy and a moral society for the future."

Franz Kafka's 1915 novella of unexplained horror and nightmarish transformation became a worldwide classic and remains, a century later, one of the most widely read works of fiction in the world. It is the story of travelling salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself transformed into a monstrous insect. This hugely influential work inspired George Orwell, Albert Camus, Jorge Louis Borges and Ray Bradbury and continues to unsettle millions of readers. In her new translation, Susan Bernofsky strives to capture both the humour and the humanity in this macabre tale, underscoring the ways in which Gregor Samsa's grotesque metamorphosis is just the physical manifestation of his longstanding spiritual impoverishment.