Episode · Conversations with Tyler · 2021-07-28
Tyler Cowen & Niall Ferguson: books mentioned on Conversations with Tyler
Niall Ferguson on Why We Study History
While the modern historical ethos can be obsessed with condescending to the past based on our current value system, Scottish-born historian Niall Ferguson has aimed to set himself apart with his willingness to examine the past in its own context.
Niall Ferguson recommended The Third Reich by Michael Burleigh and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and discussed Capital by Karl Marx, The 39 steps by John Buchan, A World Restored by Henry Kissinger, L'ancien régime by Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville, and General Theory Of Employment , Interest And Money by John Maynard Keynes. Tyler Cowen recommended Doom by Niall Ferguson, and discussed Paper and Iron by Niall Ferguson.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Capital
Discussed“I think if one reads Capital it is a a prophetic work about England and about any country that follows England down the the route of of Industrial Revolution and and class society.”
Where to get it
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The 39 steps
Discussed“These books are of the direct lineal descendants, as you probably know Tyler, of the great Richard Hannay books that John Buchan wrote beginning with The 39 Steps.”
Where to get it
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A World Restored
Discussed“He's fantastically scathing in his review of of of Kissinger's first book um a review that I only found by by chance. This is A World Restored, a book that that um that has many merits...”
Where to get it
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The Third Reich
Recommended“I think the antidote to a book like like Taylor's is Michael Burleigh's uh uh excellent book of gosh, more than a decade ago, A New History of the Third Reich, which emphasizes Hitler's messianic political religious side.”
Where to get it
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L'ancien régime
Discussed“I as an undergraduate we were required to read Tocqueville's L'Ancien Régime in French in our first term.”
Where to get it
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Democracy in America
Discussed“And then when we read Democracy in America, it became even clearer what Tocqueville's project was...”
Where to get it
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General Theory Of Employment , Interest And Money
Discussed“So while everybody else was reading Aristotle and uh and Locke, I was reading uh Adam Smith and and then the General Theory. And the General Theory was the hardest thing I'd ever read.”
Where to get it
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Snow Crash
Recommended“The most plausible is Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. And Stephenson saw really brilliantly that we would end up spending half our lives on the internet...”
Where to get it
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Doom
Recommended“And again, I'm happy to recommend Niall's latest book, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Today I'm here with Niall Ferguson who needs no introduction and that's Niall N I A L L and Niall has a new book out called Doom, The Politics of Catastrophe.”
“I got into an argument with the early Keynes in my very earliest book, the the book Paper and Iron, because I encountered Keynes in a new role...”
“Empire is is the book that uh you couldn't write today. I don't think you could publish that book today.”