The Great Wave : Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History
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Review
a work of phenomenal scope and erudition ... Fischer's history of inflation is a thoroughly good read ... He should send the Treasury a copy. (Mark Archer, The Sunday Telegraph )
a provocative and thoughtful journey through history (The Economist )
a provocative and thoughtful journey through history (The Economist )
The Economist
"a provocative and thoughtful journey through history"
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
CHARTRES, September 8, 1224, the festival of the Virgin's Birth. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
CHARTRES, September 8, 1224, the festival of the Virgin's Birth. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Fischer's book takes in a long view of basic economic history. It covers the period from roughly 1200 AD to present, using data from England, Europe and the United States. The book sizes up what has taken place economically, socially, etc. and it discusses some basic relationships. A great contribution of the book is that it becomes apparent to the reader that long term effects are frequently completely invisible to people coping with present economic situations. For example, many well-intended fiscal policies are counter-productive or produce neutral effects for this very reason. Another great supporting contribution of the book is that Fischer is well aware of the various schools of economic thought. At many places in the text, he points out weaknesses of certain theories; in his appendix he summarizes by showing that no existing single theory fully explains actual historical events. Another great contribution is the appendix itself. It comprises half the book, and contains a massive bibliography, with further elaborations on social issues, crime, disease, divorce, contrasts in economic theories, wealth distribution, and more. Most of the references are of high scholarly quality. There are a few shortcomings in presentation, but these are details. For example, Fischer occasionally makes asides which would be more effective if they were concise summaries. Also, some of his graphs have peculiar scaling. The reader must exercise care in interpreting them. Nevertheless, ... Fischer's work is an excellent overview of economic dynamics, and is highly recommended for obtaining a well-rounded perspective.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A remarkable review of economic cycles since 1200. Well written, informative, and remarkably humane. If civilisation is going to control the slumps and booms so that the poor do not always suffer, then we need all of us to leant to apply the lessons taught us in this book.
Excellent
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This should be a must read for anyone interested in inflation and historical business cycles. There is a liberal bias to some of his arguments but the criticisms I have seen of this work are oversimplifications of this massive synthesis of economic and historical data.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Worth reading if not believing
Here's a book whose scope would intimidate most historians and economists: seven centuries of price history ranging across the globe, although Fischer's preferred case is Western... Read more
Published on 17 Jun 1999
Important book for historical perspective on Western society
I have been surprised that scholars in the social sciences have not paid more attention to Fischer's book. There are, as with any integrative work of this scope, issues. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 1998
A poorly written politically biased book
Being very interested in the effects the economy in general and price movements in particularly had on the history of the civilization, I have immediately noticed this book and... Read more
Published on 6 April 1997
Riding the inflation wave
Utilizing a very long telescope, one that sees back into the Dark Ages, Brandise University professor David Hackett Fischer investigates the history of price changes to expound on... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 1997
An outstanding, objective look at world and European history
An outstanding way to communicate history. This is a very objective
and quantitative argument about the factors that really move
history. Read more
and quantitative argument about the factors that really move
history. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 1997
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