The Wealth and Poverty of Nations

"Readers cannot but be provoked and stimulated by this splendidly iconoclastic and refreshing book." — Andrew Porter, New York Times Book Review

The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is David S. Landes's acclaimed, best-selling exploration of one of the most contentious and hotly debated questions of our time: Why do some nations achieve economic success while others remain mired in poverty? The answer, as Landes definitively illustrates, is a complex interplay of cultural mores and historical circumstance. Rich with anecdotal evidence, piercing analysis, and a truly astonishing range of erudition, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations is a "picture of enormous sweep and brilliant insight" (Kenneth Arrow) as well as one of the most audaciously ambitious works of history in decades.

"Truly wonderful. No question that this will establish David Landes as preeminent in his field and in his time." — John Kenneth Galbraith

"Mr. Landes writes with verve and gusto. . . . [T]his is indeed good history." — Douglass C. North, Wall Street Journal

• "There are few historians who would not be proud to be the author of this book." — Eric Hobsbawm, Los Angeles Times

David S. Landes is professor emeritus at Harvard University and the author of Bankers and Pashas, The Unbound Prometheus, and Revolution in Time.