Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson is a British historian, financial journalist and television presenter who has had a long career exploring a wide variety of topics, including the influence of money on history and current affairs. He is best known for his series of works on the history of money and the financial power of developed countries. His book, The Ascent of Money, was made into an award-winning television series in 2009.

Ferguson was born in 1964 in Glasgow and is of Irish descent. He attended the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, where he specialized in intellectual history and finance, respectively. He currently holds a letter of professorship from Harvard University and is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard. He holds a number of honorary degrees from leading institutions around the world.

In 1995, Ferguson published his first book, Paper and Iron: Hamburg Business and German Politics in the Era of Inflation, 1897–1927. The book covers German politicians’ response to inflation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was the first of several works he wrote on the history of money and its influence on societies.

In 1998, Ferguson published The Pity of War, an exploration of how national pride and other factors led to the outbreak of World War I. The book was a bestseller and was adapted into a BBC television series in 2004.

In 2004, Ferguson published Colossus: The Price of America’s Empire, an examination of the United States’ role on the world stage. This was followed in the same year by Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World, which covers the role of the British Empire in cultivating a global order.

In 2008, Ferguson published The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. The book became a bestseller, winning the 2009 Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard University and the Wadsworth Prize of the Financial Times. The book was adapted into a documentary series for Channel 4 in 2009, for which Ferguson wrote and presented. The series was critically acclaimed and won a BAFTA for best documentary series.

Ferguson has subsequently written and presented a number of other works on the subject of our relationship with money, including The Square and the Tower: Networks, Hierarchies and the Struggle for Global Power and The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die. Most recently, he authored The Cash Nexus: Money and Power in the Modern World, 2000–1930, a look at the alleged dominance of money in the modern era.

Ferguson has also written and presented several works on aspects of modern politics, such as Civilization: The West and the Rest, in which he examines the decline of the West, particularly Europe, and the growing power of other regions. His other works include The Cash Nexus and the Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization.

In addition to his writing and presenting, Ferguson is a sought-after public speaker and has given many talks in various countries around the world. He appears regularly as an analyst and commentator on various media outlets, including CNN, Sky News and Bloomberg TV. He is also a regular contributor to Financial Times, The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph and New York Post.

Niall Ferguson is one of the most preeminent figures in the fields of history, economics and finance. His work has explored a wide range of topics and his views on the subjects of money, wealth and power have had a profound impact on contemporary thought. Ferguson’s books, documentaries and television appearances have earned him critical and commercial success, as his engaging and often provocative approach to his subjects have been well-received by both academic and popular audiences.