In this incisive, clear-sighted portrait, award-winning journalist John Plender explores the paradoxes and pitfalls inherent in capitalism. Taking us from the Venetian merchants of the Renaissance to the gleaming temples of 21st-century commerce via the South Sea Bubble, Dutch tulip mania, and manic-depressive gambling addicts, Plender shows us capitalism through the eyes of philosophers, novelists, poets, artists, and the divines.

John Plender has been a senior editorial writer and columnist at the Financial Times since 1981. He has a weekly column on economics and business and also writes for the opinion pages.