Merchants and Bandits

§The work

The rise and decay of a bargain

The alliance with violence freed the merchants from violence: the privateers gave up their pirate ships and settled down as industrialists. This bargain is coming apart. What was given in return is dwindling, the rate of plunder is rising, and plunder is taken without bloodshed: through money creation, public debt, and officials who are not liable.

The book tells of the rise and decay of this order, from the clan through the Hanseatic League and the Fuggers to Bitcoin and the thinking machine. Its last part is devoted to what lies in one's own hands: work, wealth, place, and the art of living well along the way.

34 chapters · five parts · 422 pages · 36 chapter plates · more than 250 sources · margin scholia

§Two disciplines

Hand and Fist

Other people's actions can be influenced by the promise of a benefit or the threat of harm. The study of the hand that offers has been called catallactics for almost two hundred years. The study of the fist that threatens is only now emerging; I call it cratics. The two have never before been presented together.

Much in this book began in the Scholien. They continue to appear monthly, free of charge.

§The arc

Through history in five parts

1. IThe SeparationWhy the world economy is breaking apart, and how an offer differs from a threat.
2. IIThe BargainHow plunder became protection for tribute, and privateers became industrialists.
3. IIIThe Brain on the PayrollWhy thinkers usually understand the fist better than the hand, and whose pay they draw.
4. IVPlunder without BloodshedHow money itself became the plunder, and why no one is liable any more.
5. VWeathering the WinterThinking clearly, building ventures, stewarding wealth, choosing one's place, living well.

From the 34 chapters