Ask HN: Good books on economic history? - sakunthala
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chewxy
I liked deVries' The First Modern Economy - the first volume is great. It's
not a pop-econ book, but rather a good hard look at the Dutch economy circa
1500s. A Concise Economic History of The World is also not a bad book, if a
bit dry.

There are too some other cliometric books that I really liked but can't for
the life of me recall it. There was another that was along the lines of Money
and Market of All Times or something or like that, which I recommend for a
quick skim through (not really worth a deep read - I'd treat it as the others
already mentioned in this thread)

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anxman
The Worldly Philosophers is my favorite. It will take you through economic
history as told by its great philosophers and break down the differences
between the schools of thought. It has been my trusted guide on economic
theory for the last 15 years.

Here's a link on Amazon: [http://www.amazon.com/The-Worldly-Philosophers-
Economic-Thin...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Worldly-Philosophers-Economic-
Thinkers/dp/068486214X)

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purephase
I'll be watching this thread with interest myself, but one that I thoroughly
enjoyed reading (and it's pretty short) is Dr. Strangelove's Game by Paul
Strathern [1]. It is not particularly well known according to sites I
frequent, and I think it's unfortunate.

[1]
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1193827.Dr_Strangelove_s...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1193827.Dr_Strangelove_s_Game)

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utunga
Not sure how far back you want to go back but Debt: The First 5000 Years is a
real tour de force of understanding how monetary relations were organised over
a large number of different cultures and different times..
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years)

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evanhutch
Charles Kindelberger's "Manias, Panics & Crashes." Should be mandatory reading
in HS. Starts with Minsky's theory of how economic bubbles occur and progress,
then applies the theory beginning with the Tulip mania among the Dutch through
to the modern era.

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drpgq
I liked the Ascent of Money.

