The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History

Records of prices are more abundant than any other quantifiable data, and span the entire range of history, from tables of medieval grain prices to the overabundance of modern statistics. In The Great Wave, David Hackett Fischer marshals this astonishing wealth of data to outline a history of prices that covers the dazzling sweep of Western history. Going far beyond the economic data, Fischer writes a powerful history of the people of the Western world: the economic patterns they lived in, and the politics, culture, and society that they created as a result.