"Before 1870, humanity lived in dire poverty, with a slow crawl of invention offset by a growing population. Then came a great shift: invention sprinted forward, doubling our technological capabilities each generation and utterly transforming the economy again and again. Our ancestors would have presumed we would have used such powers to build utopia. But it was not so. When 1870-2010 ended, the world instead saw global warming; economic depression,...

Economics created our world. As the process through which societies provide for their citizens, it has driven everything from trade and politics to warfare and diplomacy. There's not a single aspect of history that has not been influenced by economics. Discover a riveting, centuries-long story of power, glory, and ideology that reveals how economic ideas emerged, evolved, and thrived or died.

Topics include: African Americans -- Agriculture and extractive industries -- Salem witch trials -- Arts, culture, and intellectual life -- Biographies -- British colonies -- Cities and settlements -- Dutch colonies -- Economy, business, and labor -- European Americans -- Everyday life -- Exploration -- French colonies -- Geography -- Health and medicine -- Military and diplomatic affairs -- Native Americans (American Indians) -- Politics, law, and...

First, learn why Japanese domination of Manchuria did little to solve Japan's economic problems after the Great Depression. Then, take an intriguing comparative look at the economic motives of imperialist Japan and Nazi Germany-both of which adopted some Keynesian economic policies to get out of their respective economic depressions.

Turn now to some of the factors that affected late 19th-century industrialization and, in some cases, led to uneven economic development among different countries. You'll learn how this unequal power in economic relationships contributed to a significant resentment toward capitalist systems in the West, with some countries feeling that industrialization had exacerbated economic disparity.

Explore the two centuries from 1600 to 1800 known as the industrious revolution." First, examine the early rise of the first factories (which guilds and states initially opposed). Then, study the slow change of the household economy, consumption patterns, and consumer behavior (including the introduction of cotton cloth)."

The golden age of American capitalism was undoubtedly the 1950s and 1960s. Professor Harreld charts the development of American economic exceptionalism (aided by the U.S. automobile industry). He also examines how American exceptionalism was shaped by the Cold War, and considers whether or not it came to an end in the 1970s.

According to Adam Smith, if labor creates value, then the amount of wealth in the world could increase by the collective efforts of a nation. Welcome to the dawn of mercantilism, which, as you'll learn here, radically redefined how rulers used economic policy-specifically to further the process of state building.

From Ghana to Algeria to Indonesia, many European colonies came under the influence of Marxist theories of self-determination. The result was a new generation of native leaders who either admired or reviled the Western capitalist movement. Go inside the post-World War II economic battle between communist and capitalist economic systems in the newly disputed colonial territories.