The Bronze Age, which midwifed the modern world, relied upon unknown traders in tin, a metal in short supply across Europe and the Middle East. Where it even came from was a mystery. It was a crucial commodity, mixed with copper to make the rudimentary swords and spears that drew the borders of the ancient world. Somebody found a source—in Cornwall, or Devonshire, or Brittany—and somehow delivered it to Egypt or Sumer. We don’t know who they were, what they earned, or what corners they cut.
Now we do know—maybe not about them, but about the modern tin traders. There’s not a word about the Bronze Age in The World for Sale, from Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, but there’s a motherlode about the people who literally created the world we live in now by trading the modern equivalents of tin, whether oil, coal, or cobalt. If you have the slightest interest in how the modern world was made, by whom, at what price, and at what profit, this is the book for you.
