Current unsettling events in the world economy give a special piquancy to an investigation at this moment into the story of mankind?s economic history. ROAD TO RICHES is the story of the rise and fall of whole economies and nations, and the ascent of man as the only economic animal ? as producer, consumer and accumulator of wealth.Ideas about the story of the wealth of man are constantly changing as scholars in the 1990s have concentrated their efforts in economic and global history. We want to know how the economic machine works and how far beyond our control it really is. It seems as though the answers are becoming more fluid just as the questions become more pressing.Peter Jay has spent his working life in both Britain and American, following and explaining the day-to-day twists and turns of fortune throughout the world. As he searches for deeper explanations of the forces that disturb our complacency and change our lives, he has felt the need to reach further back into history to f