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Two decades of financial crises have dramatically expanded central banks' powers. In 2008, and then again in 2020, unelected banking officials found themselves suddenly responsible for the public welfare – not just because it was necessary but based on an idea that their independence from political systems would insulate them from the whims of populism. Now, as international crises continue and the scope of monetary interventions grows in response, these bankers have become increasingly powerful. In this volume, economist and historian Éric Monnet charts the rise of central banks as the nominally independent – but unavoidably political – superpowers of modern societies. This trajectory, Monnet argues, is neither inevitable nor unstoppable. By embracing the political natures of today's central banks, we can construct systems of accountability for how they interact with states and societies. Monnet shows that this effort will do more than guard against unjust power; it will put the banks to work for greater, more democratic ends. With existential challenges looming and the work of the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank more important than ever, Balance of Power offers a trenchant case for what this century's central banks can – and must – become.

"From Amazon to Tinder, from Google to Deliveroo, there is no facet of human life that the digital revolution has not streamlined and dematerialized. Its objective was to reduce costs by forgoing face-to-face interactions, and it was a direct result of the free-market shock of the 1980s, which sought to expand the marketplace seamlessly in every possible dimension. Today, we can be algorithmically entertained, educated, cared for, and courted in a way that was impossible in the old industrial society, where institutions structured the social world. Today, these institutions have been replaced by monetized virtual contact. As the industrial revolution did in the past, the digital revolution is creating a new economy and a new sensibility, bringing about a radical revaluation of society and its representations. While obsessed with the search for an efficient management of human relations, the new digital capitalism gives rise to an irrational and impulsive Homo numericus prone to an array of addictive behaviours and subjected to intensive forms of surveillance. Far from producing a new agora, social media produce a radicalization of public debate in which hate-filled speech directed against adversaries becomes the norm. But these outcomes are not inevitable. The digital revolution also offers an exciting path, one that leads to a world in which everyone deserves to be listened to and respected. It explores a new way of living that is historically unprecedented, that of a society based neither on individualism nor on the hierarchical model of earlier civilizations. Are we able to seize the new opportunities opened up by the digital revolution without succumbing to its dark side?"--Amazon.com

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface to the English-Language Edition -- Introduction -- Chapter One. Two Comebacks -- Chapter Two. The Place of Great Men -- Chapter Three. The Best among Us? -- Chapter Four. The Pen and the Sword -- Chapter Five. The Heroes' Sepulcher -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index

Intro -- DISTURBANCE -- CHAPTER 1. TWELFTH NIGHT -- CHAPTER 2. THE FLYING CARPET -- CHAPTER 3. THE MEETING -- CHAPTER 4. THE ATTACK -- CHAPTER 5. AMONG THE DEAD -- CHAPTER 6. THE AWAKENING -- CHAPTER 7. THE GRAMMAR OF THE HOSPITAL ROOM -- CHAPTER 8. POOR LUDO -- CHAPTER 9. THE WORLD BELOW -- CHAPTER 10. THE ANEMONE -- CHAPTER 11. THE IMPERFECT FAIRY -- CHAPTER 12. THE PREPARATION -- CHAPTER 13. STATIC CALENDAR -- CHAPTER 14. THE COOKIE BOX -- CHAPTER 15. THE FLAP -- CHAPTER 16. A DOMESTIC DISPUTE -- CHAPTER 17. THE ART OF THE FUGUE -- CHAPTER 18. MONSIEUR TARBES -- CHAPTER 19. THE PATIENT'S DISTURBANCE -- CHAPTER 20. RETURNS -- EPILOGUE -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

"This comprehensive introduction to the ancient Greek economy revolutionizes our understanding of the subject and its possibilities. Alain Bresson is one of the world's leading authorities in the field, and he is helping to redefine it. Here he combines a thorough knowledge of ancient sources with innovative new approaches grounded in recent economic historiography to provide a detailed picture of the Greek economy between the last century of the Archaic Age and the closing of the Hellenistic period. Focusing on the city-state, which he sees as the most important economic institution in the Greek world, Bresson addresses all of the city-states rather than only Athens. An expanded and updated English edition of an acclaimed work originally published in French, the book offers a groundbreaking new theoretical framework for studying the economy of ancient Greece; presents a masterful survey and analysis of the most important economic institutions, resources, and other factors; and addresses some major historiographical debates. Among the many topics covered are climate, demography, transportation, agricultural production, market institutions, money and credit, taxes, exchange, long-distance trade, and economic growth.The result is an unparalleled demonstration that, unlike just a generation ago, it is possible today to study the ancient Greek economy as an economy and not merely as a secondary aspect of social or political history. This is essential reading for students, historians of antiquity, and economic historians of all periods"--

This concise but comprehensive work provides an original history of German-language philosophy from the Middle Ages to today. In an accessible narrative that explains complex ideas in clear language, Vittorio Hsle traces the evolution of German philosophy and describes its central influence on other aspects of German culture, including literature, politics, and science

Money is an evil that does good, and a good that does evil. It inspires hymns to the prosperity it enables, manifestos about the poor it leaves behind, and diatribes for its corrosion of morality. In The Wisdom of Money, one of the world's great essayists guides us through the rich commentary that money has generated since ancient times--both the passions and the resentments--as he builds an unfashionable defense of the worldly wisdom of the bourgeoisie. Bruckner begins with the worshippers and the despisers. Sometimes they are the same people--priests, for example, who venerate the poor from within churches of opulence and splendor. This hypocrisy endures in our secular world, he says, not least in his own France, where it is de rigueur even among the rich to feign indifference to money. It is better to speak plainly about money in the old American fashion, in Bruckner's view. A little more honesty would allow us to see through the myths of money's omnipotence but also the dangers of the aristocratic, ideological, and religious systems of thought that try to put money in its place. This does not mean we should emulate the mega-rich with their pathologies of consumption, competition, and narcissistic philanthropy. But we could do worse than defy three hundred years of derision from novelists and poets to embrace the unromantic bourgeois virtues of work, security, and moderate comfort. It is wise to have money, Bruckner tells us, and wise to think about it critically.

The catastrophe of the wedding night -- Divorce, a 'Judaic poison' -- The nuptial utopia -- From forbidden love to obligatory love -- The pathologies of the ideal -- Honey and Hemlock -- The round of disappointed lovers -- Towards separation in a state of euphoria? -- A ministry of broken hearts? -- An agony amidst glory -- The librating tradition -- Restoring reason to sentiment -- Together, separated -- The defeat of Prometheus -- The sweetness of life

The planet is sick. Human beings are guilty of damaging it. We have to pay. Today, that is the orthodoxy throughout the Western world. Concern about the environment is legitimate, but catastrophism transforms us into cowering children. Distrust of progress and science, calls for individual and collective self-sacrifice to 'save the planet' and cultivation of fear: behind the carbon commissars, a dangerous and counterproductive ecological catastrophism is gaining ground.

Introduction: a curious campaign -- Mysterious Ethiopia -- Tewodros II defies Queen Victoria -- The European hostages -- The British Empire prepares for war -- A harbor city built overnight -- Embedded journalists -- The long march to Magdala -- The Aroge massacre -- The assault on the fortress -- The looting of Ethiopian cultural treasures -- Orderly withdrawal -- The victors' triumphal return to England -- Balance sheet: military intervention without colonial occupation

Guilt peddlers -- The irremediable and despondency -- The ideology that stammers -- The self-flagellants of the Western world -- A thirst for punishment -- The pathologies of debt -- Placing the enemy in one's heart -- The vanities of self-hatred -- One-way repentance -- The false quarrel over Islamophobia -- Innocence recovered -- How central is the Near East? -- "Zionism, the criminal DNA of humanity" -- Unmasking the usurper -- A delicate arbitrage -- America doubly damned -- The fanaticism of modesty -- A tardy conversion to virtue -- The empire of emptiness -- The pacification of the past -- The guilty imagination -- Recovering self-esteem -- The twofold lesson -- The second Golgotha -- Misinterpretations of Auschwitz -- Hitlerizing history -- The twofold colonial nostalgia -- Listen to my suffering -- On victimization as a career -- Protect minorities or emancipate the individual? -- What duty of memory? -- Depression in paradise : France, a symptom and caricature of Europe -- A universal victim? -- The wild ass's skin -- Who are the reactionaries? -- The triumph of fear -- Metamorphosis or decline? -- Doubt and faith : the quarrel between Europe and the United States -- To be or to have -- The troublemakers in history -- The archaism of the soldier -- The swaggering Colossus.