AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLERLONGLISTED FOR THE FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEARA FINANCIAL TIMES BEST ECONOMICS BOOK OF THE YEAR AND THE ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEARFrom one of the world''s leading economists, a sweeping new history of the twentieth century - a century that left us vastly richer, yet still profoundly dissatisfied.Before 1870, most people lived in dire poverty, the benefits of the slow crawl of invention continually offset by a growing populationThen came a great shift: invention sprinted forward, doubling our technological capabilities each generation, and creatively destroying the economy again and again.Slouching Towards Utopia tells the story of the major economic and technological shifts of the 20th century in a bold and ambitious, grand narrativeIn vivid and compelling detail, DeLong charts the unprecedented explosion of material wealth after 1870 which transformed living standards around the world, freeing humanity from cent