Utina, Florida, is a small, down-at-the-heels southern town. Once enlivened by the trade in Palm Sunday palms and moonshine, Utina hasn't seen economic growth in decades, and no family is more emblematic of the local reality than the Bravos. Deserted by the patriarch years ago, the Bravos are held together in equal measure by love, unspoken blame, and tenuously brokered truces. The story opens on a sweltering July day, as Frank Bravo, dutiful middle...

SOROS follows one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time as he fights against the rising tide of authoritarianism around the world.

For anyone who has not fully understood the controversial concept behind Bitcoin yet, this is an award-winning, concise, and informative crash course about the history of money, banking, and why Crypto Currencies such as Bitcoin matter.

Our world is burdened with disappearing economic growth, a deteriorating environment, limited natural resources, and not just too many people, but too many old people. Really? While such pessimism may mark you as a wise soul at the neighborhood cocktail party, it isn't supported by the facts. Yes, there are reasons to worry, as there have always been. But there are far more reasons to be optimistic, as author Laurence Siegel explains in his fascinating...

What role should three key cycles - price cycles in financial markets, the business cycle, and the interest rate or credit cycle - play in your investment decisions? Learn how these cycles work and the best way to protect yourself against their fluctuations.

Investigate two of the most notorious con men who ever lived: Charles Ponzi, after whom the Ponzi scheme is named, and "Match King" Ivar Kreuger, who employed an elaborate variant of Ponzi's swindle. Analyze the three ingredients that most Ponzi schemes share. Above all, learn to identify and be wary of investments that are too good to be true.

Economic development in China between 1500 and 1800 was quite similar to that in Europe during the same period. So why did Europe industrialize, but China did not? Review some of the factors that contributed to a robust economy in China, then examine why China and Europe set off on different economic trajectories.

Test Professor Fullenkamp's theory that all rogue traders are the same by studying two infamous insiders: Jerome Kerviel, who cost the French bank Societe Generale more than {dollar}6 billion, and Nick Leeson, whose errant trading bankrupted Baring Brothers. Find out how trading firms are organized, and pinpoint the Achilles heel that allowed both men to go rogue.

Go inside the creation of large, state-sponsored joint-stock companies in the 17th century-including the Bourse in Antwerp and the Exchanges in London and Amsterdam-and discover how negotiated public spaces became essential commercial institutions. Also, consider the importance of merchant manuals, which collated commercial rules and best practices.

China was largely unaffected by the 2007 - 2009 global economic meltdown. But that doesn't mean it's immune to crises. Focus on China's shadow banking, which is the provision of banking services by non-bank institutions. The practice is subject to abuse. In China's case, the widespread use of shadow banking courts trouble that could lead to financial disaster.