Did the United States prosper because of or inspite of its leaders?
The great stock picker and mutual fund manager Peter Lynch once advised, “Buy businesses so simple even an idiot could run them. Because one day an idiot will.” After reading David S. Reynolds’s Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson (HarperCollins, 2008), I...The past isn't what it seems: The more you know about France the more this quirky history will amaze you
When we divide the world into developed and undeveloped economies, we should remember how very recent all of what we call development is. When we marvel at—or doubt–the speed at which China or India or Brazil is becoming developed, we should remember that what...Montalban's detective novels: Remembrance of Barcelona's past
In most mystery novels the detective is the star in the spot light and the city, country house, deserted moor, whatever is atmosphere, the source of clues, scenery. Manual Vazquez Montalban’s detective novels reverse that relationship. His plots are almost...Nobody has ever written about the world of debt like Thackeray and Balzac
Debt. It may go down in history as America’s greatest product. Certainly no country has invented so many varieties of it. Or contrived to spread debt, once the property of only the upper class and those who would aspire to the upper class, so democratically across...Death and power in Shanghai through the eyes of Inspector Chen
Mysteries are the quickest and most enjoyable way to get to the heart of a culture. Including today’s China. As the fictional detective sifts through clues to track down the criminal, the readers experiences how that society draws the lines between morality and...Would you like cream with that red herring? More great crime fiction from Sweden
Has Sweden produced another series of great murder mysteries? I’ve just finished the first novel from Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I’d have to say it’s a real possibility. The book, published after Larsson’s death in 2004 at the age of 50, is a...Books on China
Want to understand China? (And what investor doesn’t these days?) Start with these two books. First, China Shakes the World by James Kynge, the former China bureau chief for the Financial Times. Second, China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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