In The Ascent of Money, renowned historian Niall Ferguson asserts that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. He reveals financial history as the essential backstory of all history; the evolution of credit and debt as equal in importance to any technical innovation in the rise of civilization. With the clarity and verve for which he is known, Ferguson elucidates key financial concepts and institutions and their origins, and offers the most important lesson of financial history: sooner or later every bubble bursts. Book jacket.