Economix; La Première Histoire De L'économie En BD (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Wars, riots, revolutions--they can all be explained by economics. In this entertaining comic Michael Goodwin will take you on a tour of history from the beginnings of capitalism to the modern day and explain the economic causes of every major event from the American Revolution to the Great Depression. Along the way he pulls out the wittiest lines, goriest details, and most amusing anecdotes. Economics was never my favorite subject but I absolutely loved this graphic novel! By describing various economic theories chronologically and placing them in historical context the importance of the topics is clear and the information much easier to remember. Michael Goodwin also has an excellent sense of humor. Some of the details seemed too insane to be true (like the part about the Dutch Prime Minister being eaten--but I doubled checked and found that not only is it true but there's a famous painting of it that I immediately regretted finding.) It seems that economics is stranger than fiction.I'd give this to anyone looking for an entertaining nonfiction comic or anyone seeking to understand the economy better. I'd say it's fine for 7th grade and up. So good. The coolness of the concept (a history of economics in comics) is matched by the excellence of its execution. I'm not a reader of sequential art (though I did read Scott McCloud's classic once upon a time), but Economix illuminates comics too, as a side effect: you can see the possibilities of the form in this example of it.I wasn't even expecting Goodwin's political views to be the ones to which mine aspire. But when he says (essentially; I don't have the book with me), "Trying to explain economics without mentioning power is like trying to explain politics without mentioning money," I knew I'd hit gold. And the cover image gives you all the indication you need that this is a book with a liberal agenda: look at the greedy capitalist lugging his bag of dollars up, while the disadvantaged worker walks down disconsolately, turning out his empty pockets.Goodwin is particularly good when drawing parallels between different eras, and also on that one page--I wish I had the book with me--where he points out that the rhetoric used by the right to condemn the far left can be echoed/replayed right back at them. It's not even a case of pot, kettle, black or even hypocrite, plank, speck: it's the verbatim rhetoric.The blurbs and the introduction are all, every last one of them, eyebrow-raisingly rapturous. But honestly, once you read the book, you'll agree that Goodwin's achievement here deserves them.
What do You think about Economix; La Première Histoire De L'économie En BD (2013)?
An excellent introduction to basic economic concepts presented in a fun, easy to read format.
—AliG
Fantastic! It definitely made an overview of economics painless...and interesting!
—jsvien
best book on macroeconomy that I read. Now I want a similar one on law.
—Sarah
really cool book, takes a very left biased turn towards the end though
—nick
