'Bill Parker is one of the wisest and is certainly the wittiest of the post-war generation that created the new economic history. In this series of essays, some old some new, he sets forth an immensely erudite view of the evolution of Europe and the world economy over the past five centuries. Taken separately, the essays are beautifully crafted insights into particular parts of the story. Together they form an integrated interpretation of the development of the western world. They all add up to an extraordinary volume by an extraordinary economic historian.' Douglass C. North, Washington University