Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom

How did Einstein help create Eskom? Why can an Indonesian volcano explain the Great Trek? What do King Zwelithini and Charlemagne have in common?
These are some of the questions Johan Fourie explores in this entertaining, accessible economic history spanning everything from the human migration out of Africa 100 000 years ago to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our Long Walk to Economic Freedom is an engaging guide to complex debates about the roots and reasons for prosperity, the march of opportunity versus the crushing boot of exploitation, and why the builders of societies – rather than the burglars ¬– ultimately win out.
Join the author on this enriching journey through an African-centred history and the story of our long walk towards a brighter future.
‘This is the first book to bring Africa in from the margins and place it centrally into the big narratives of world economic history. The subject will never be the same again.’ - James Robinson, co-author of Why Nations Fail

‘In this deeply thoughtful but broadly accessible tour of global economic history from the time of our savanna-roaming ancestors to the pandemic, Fourie distils the essence of a vast body of recent economic history research into teachable nuggets that raise as many questions as they answer. The African focus of his presentation will be instructive to many, and the prose delightfully engaging for all. His commitment to understanding the historical roots of prosperity and ensuring its wide distribution in the future makes this also one of the most humane economic histories I have read.’ – Anne McCants, Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and President of the International Economic History Association