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Here is an introduction to the economic achievements of man
within western civilization from pre-literary times to the present. It traces
the development of economic life from the fist-hatchet to automatic machinery
and synthetic foods, from tribal barter to international exchange, from the predatory
raids of tribesmen to the contemporary holding-company, from primitive notions
of property to the property clauses in the great European legal codes of our day.
The volume is intended to tell the story of man's economic history
in the most literal and direct sense. No preconceived notions or historical dogmas
have guided its execution. The disdain of the radical has been braved in presenting
a wealth of material with respect to the positive achievements of modern industry
and capitalistic enterprise. And, equally, the wrath of the reactionary has been
frankly faced in setting forth candidly the facts relative to the wastes and abuses
of capitalism in our own day. This history borrows generously
from the author's "The History of Western Civilization," the economic
and social parts of which were especially praised. Harry
Elmer Barnes is an outstanding journalist, teacher, writer, and one of the few
major American historians. | 
