The bestselling author of Material World explores how trade made the modern world—and what its unravelling could mean—through bread, cloth and cars.
A loaf of bread, a piece of clothing and a car each carry a story far larger than their everyday use. Behind them lie networks of labour, transport, commerce and political negotiation that connect people across borders. In Trade World: The Ties That Bound Our Past and Could Unravel Our Future, Ed Conway follows these connections to explain how trade has shaped human history—and why its future matters to us all.
Trade has linked societies for thousands of years, carrying raw materials, finished goods and human ambitions across vast distances. Conway traces this history from ancient civilisations through empire and globalisation to today’s deeply interconnected economy. From the copper used in Mesopotamian agriculture to the silicon powering modern smartphones, he reveals how the things we make and exchange have helped build the world we inhabit.
Yet the networks that support modern life are facing profound uncertainty. Goods move around the planet on an unprecedented scale, even as restrictions, government intervention and geopolitical tensions challenge the assumptions that underpinned decades of globalisation. Trade World examines this changing economic order and the consequences of loosening the ties on which so much of daily life depends.
Bread, cloth and cars provide a tangible route into this complex story. Bringing together economic history, reporting and first-hand access to influential figures and institutions, Conway moves between international agreements and the practical realities of getting products into people’s hands. Alongside the policies and negotiations are the people who make, ship, sell and sometimes smuggle the goods that cross our borders.
For readers of history, business, politics and ideas, Trade World connects the decisions made by governments and institutions with the objects closest to us. It offers a revealing account of the relationships that bound our past—and asks what happens when those relationships begin to fracture.
With a compelling blend of economic history and first-hand access to key figures and institutions, Conway takes us from policy treaties to ground level to show us the people who make, ship and sometimes smuggle the products we buy on a daily basis.
Discover the hidden, shifting trade world behind everything you see around you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ed Conway is a writer and broadcaster. He is the Economics and Data Editor of Sky News, covering major UK and international economics, business and political stories. He has broken a series of exclusive reports on the banking and financial crisis. He’s a regular columnist for The Times and Sunday Times. He has won numerous awards for his journalism, and his book Material World was a Sunday Times bestseller. Ed studied at Pembroke College, Oxford and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, where he was a Fulbright scholar and a Shorenstein Scholar.
