Merryn Somerset Webb chooses five books on how the world works

The financial columnist and commentator is at the Edinburgh Fringe with "The Butcher, The Brewer, The Baker and Merryn Somerset Webb" on 22 August.

Captives and Companions

Justin Marozzi, 2025
A timely – and riveting – reminder in an age of binary thinking that the history of slavery is far wider than the Atlantic trade. Marozzi takes us from the multi-century trade across the Sahara to slave raids on the Cornish coast in the 1600s, and confirms that – albeit "more covertly" – this nasty system continues today.

Revolutionary Spring

Christopher Clark, 2023
In 1848, revolution – driven by political and financial inequality – spread across Europe. In the end, most uprisings were seen to have failed. But maybe they didn't – they left a changed Europe behind them. Today's revolutions may be less violent, but the sentiment is not. As you read, you will wonder whether Europe is at a similar turning point now.

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How the World Really Works

Vaclav Smil, 2022
Most of us have no idea how food and energy production work. A quote from Bill Gates is all this one really needs: "If you want a brief but thorough education in numeric thinking about many of the fundamental forces that shape human life, this is the book to read."

The Theory of Moral Sentiments

Adam Smith, 1759
Smith's economic masterpiece "The Wealth of Nations" is better known, but his bestseller from 1759 is just as brilliant and – as a study of ethics, morals, the role of conscience and why we behave as we do – it is as relevant now as then.

End Times

Peter Turchin, 2023
Member of the elite? If so, you are one of too many. A convincing argument that political instability is a function of elite overproduction and intra-elite conflict. "Popular immiseration" and frustration boil over, violent ruptures follow. This is how most eras end – and how ours is ending now. Expect unpleasantness.

Titles available at The Week Bookshop