Introduction: 'As certain as the principle of gravitation' -- Part I:Birth. The other founding father's of economics: how David Ricardo made a fortune on the Stock Exchange, thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte, and took up political economy -- 'The unshakeable basis for international trade': how Ricardo's theory of England trading cloth for Portuguese wine became a 'beautiful proof' of the benefits of globalization -- Unequal treaty: why England and Portugal's real prizes were neither cloth nor wine -- Black gold: a history of Portuguese Brazil, its gold, and the trade in captives from Africa -- Newton's mint: how Isaac Newton grew rich from Brazilian gold and Ricardo's family came to London -- The empire of free trade: the cost of British 'free' trade with India and Brazil and why economics should not be called the 'dismal science' -- Part II: Death. 'Dropped from another planet': how Ricardo bought his way into parliament and later fell out with his best friend, 'Population Malthus' -- 'Purely hypothetical truths': in which the inventor of the word 'scientist' and his historian friend attempt to destroy Ricardo's economics -- The fall: a journey through a century of thinking in which Ricardian economics became a 'vice' -- Part III: Rebirth. The return of unreality: how economists learned to stop worrying and love unreal assumptions during the Cold War -- Big finance: how economics boosted the wealth and power of modern finance and blinded so many to its fragility -- Trading barbarians: how a 'free-trade' dogma diverted attention from the expansion of corporate rights and shocked democracy -- Life: an externality: how climate economics helped mislead elite opinion on the issue of our time -- New hope: new voices in economics that have sprung up to challenge the concentration of wealth and power in society -- Conclusion: look at the world.