{"title":"Malcolm Balen","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into Malcolm Balen's insightful explorations of history and culture. Perfect for readers seeking meticulously researched narratives and compelling storytelling. Discover a world of knowledge and intrigue.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"very-english-deceit-book-malcolm-balen-9781841155524","title":"A Very English Deceit","description":"The early years of the 18th-century produced two great monuments: one, Christopher Wren's new cathedral of St Paul's, an enduring testament to principled craft and masterful construction, the other an empty fraud of such magnitude that its collapse threatened to overturn monarchies and governments. Its failure delayed the introduction of modern market economies by two generations. Yet the full scale of this monumental deceit was quietly covered up and hidden, its enduring legacy a poorly understood colloquialism: the South Sea Bubble. The Bubble was a share scam that had its origins in the designs of a brilliant Scots economist, John Law, who, while exiled in France, persuaded people of all classes to exchange their gold and silver first for paper money and then for share certificates in a company whose fortunes seemed guaranteed. The shares soared in value almost overnight and the country's first millionaires were created. It seemed a model no rival power could afford to ignore. The English version was run by a reckless, ruthless and venal coterie. They sold similar paper shares, but in a company that had no assets, no business and no point. The deception drew in every level of the establishment from the King to the Commons, the professions to the Church. It deserved to bring down the whole rotten edifice that had supported it, but, in a very English manner, the guilty parties were protected from the full force of justice. Malcolm Balen reveals the full story of corruption and scandal that attended the birth of the first shareholder economy, and with it uncovers a parable for our times.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49524562821393,"sku":"GOR002276886","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50001568923921,"sku":"CIN1841155527G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50400853590289,"sku":"CIN1841155527A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52734224204049,"sku":"GOR001870962","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1841155527.jpg?v=1751425688"},{"product_id":"model-victory-book-malcolm-balen-9780007160303","title":"A Model Victory","description":"A vivid retelling of the Battle of Waterloo, based on unpublished soldiers written accounts.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49557371584785,"sku":"GOR003951458","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50189972701457,"sku":"GOR004285415","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0007160305.jpg?v=1750811431"},{"product_id":"model-victory-book-malcolm-balen-9780007160297","title":"A Model Victory","description":"A vivid retelling of the Battle of Waterloo, based on unpublished soldiers’ written accounts. When a patriotic model-maker recorded the days’ events for posterity he left us with a glorified version of an English victory. Malcolm Balen brings us the muddy truth.             More than fifty thousand died or were wounded on the single bloody day of the Battle of Waterloo. This was killing on the scale of the First World War, and yet the glory of the British victory soon came to overshadow any notion of its gore. In this electrifying account of the day itself, Malcolm Balen combines extraordinary first-hand accounts of the battle with the story of William Siborne, a model-maker who, in the wake of the battle, wanted to leave to posterity a perfect and accurate representation of the crucial moment in the battle. The question was: Who won it? Was it Wellington’s forces or Blucher’s Prussians, or a combination of the two?             The accounts Siborne used to piece the muddy truth together read as if Waterloo had been fought yesterday. But the accuracy he relentlessly pursued came up against the British establishment and the Duke of Wellington’s desire to control the narrative of the day. In this fascinating and refreshing account of one of the bloodiest days in history, Malcolm Balen interweaves two battles fought: one in the muddy fields of Belgium, and the other over history itself.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49561365872913,"sku":"GOR002094358","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49620650000657,"sku":"GOR012688019","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0007160291.jpg?v=1751131574"},{"product_id":"very-english-deceit-book-malcolm-balen-9780007292783","title":"A Very English Deceit","description":"The paperback of the critically acclaimed popular history book: the story of the South Sea Bubble which in Balen’s hands becomes a morality tale for our times. A classic collision of political ambition, mercenary greed and financial revolution.             The early years of the 18th-century produced two great monuments: one, Christopher Wren’s new cathedral of St Paul’s, an enduring testament to principled craft and masterful construction; the other, an empty fraud of such magnitude that its collapse threatened to overturn monarchies and governments. Its failure delayed the introduction of modern market economies by two generations. Yet the full scale of this monumental deceit was quietly covered up and hidden, its enduring legacy a poorly understood colloquialism: the South Sea Bubble.             It was all planned by one ambitious promoter, who had decided to launch ‘a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is’. This eighteenth-century mission statement has now acquired an almost uncanny resonance: these words could aptly have been applied to the bursting of the internet bubble and the collapse of Enron. With the financial scandals that have beset global companies recently, such as Rank Xerox and Worldcom, this tale is all the more relevant today.             Balen reveals the full story of corruption and scandal that attended the birth of the first shareholder economy, and with it uncovers a parable for our times.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49593459278097,"sku":"GOR005971344","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52487635108113,"sku":"NLS9780007292783","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52923963932945,"sku":"GOR006464659","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53333553873169,"sku":"GOR012171202","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0007292783.jpg?v=1751435042"},{"product_id":"kenneth-clarke-book-malcolm-balen-9781857022063","title":"Kenneth Clarke","description":"Evaluation and Social Work Practice offers a comprehensive treatment of the central issues confronting evaluation in social work that links theory and method to practical applications. Evaluation is an integral part of social work and social care provision, for both practice and service delivery. Evaluation can improve effectiveness and increase accountability and help develop new models of practice and service delivery. The authors argue that evaluation should not just be applied to practice but should be a direct dimension of practice. Appealing to the student, researcher and practitioner, Evaluation and Social Work Practice will become the standard reference source on evaluation in social work.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49596450963729,"sku":"GOR002169152","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49620224409873,"sku":"GOR003272406","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1857022068.jpg?v=1751433255"},{"product_id":"very-english-deceit-book-malcolm-balen-9781841155531","title":"A Very English Deceit","description":"The paperback of the critically acclaimed popular history book: the story of the South Sea Bubble which in Balen’s hands becomes a morality tale for our times. A classic collision of political ambition, mercenary greed and financial revolution.             The early years of the 18th-century produced two great monuments: one, Christopher Wren’s new cathedral of St Paul’s, an enduring testament to principled craft and masterful construction; the other, an empty fraud of such magnitude that its collapse threatened to overturn monarchies and governments. Its failure delayed the introduction of modern market economies by two generations. Yet the full scale of this monumental deceit was quietly covered up and hidden, its enduring legacy a poorly understood colloquialism: the South Sea Bubble.             It was all planned by one ambitious promoter, who had decided to launch ‘a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is’. This eighteenth-century mission statement has now acquired an almost uncanny resonance: these words could aptly have been applied to the bursting of the internet bubble and the collapse of Enron. With the financial scandals that have beset global companies recently, such as Rank Xerox and Worldcom, this tale is all the more relevant today.             Balen reveals the full story of corruption and scandal that attended the birth of the first shareholder economy, and with it uncovers a parable for our times.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49611016077585,"sku":"GOR003593018","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50570780311825,"sku":"GOR001240830","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53245935452433,"sku":"GOR002858535","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1841155535.jpg?v=1750802704"},{"product_id":"secret-history-of-the-south-sea-bubble-book-malcolm-balen-9780007161775","title":"The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble","description":"The paperback of the critically-acclaimed popular history book: The story of the South Sea Bubble which in Balen's hands becomes a morality tale for our times. A classic collision of political ambition, mercenary greed and financial revolution  The early years of the eighteenth-century produced two great monuments: one, Christopher Wren's new cathedral of St Paul's, an enduring testament to principled craft and masterful construction. The other an empty fraud of such magnitude that its collapse threatened to overturn monarchies and governments. Its failure delayed the introduction of modern market economies by two generations. Yet the full scale of this monumental deceit was quietly covered up and hidden, its enduring legacy a poorly understood colloquialism: the South Sea Bubble.  It was all planned by one ambitious promoter, who had decided to launch 'a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is'. This eighteenth-century mission statement has now acquired an almost uncanny resonance: these words could aptly have been applied to the bursting of the Internet bubble and the collapse of Enron.  With the financial scandals that have beset global companies recently, such as Rank Xerox and Worldcom, this tale is all the more relevant today.  Balen reveals the full story of corruption and scandal that attended the birth of the first shareholder economy, and with it uncovers a parable for our times.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49989639340305,"sku":"GOR004443019","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50269033988369,"sku":"CIN0007161778G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50270364139793,"sku":"CIN0007161778VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53077024932113,"sku":"GOR008127051","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0007161778.jpg?v=1751036440"},{"product_id":"secret-history-of-the-south-sea-bubble-book-malcolm-balen-9780007161782","title":"The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn unscrupulous Englishman had the notion for a company that would establish a lucrative trade in silver and spices between England and the Americas. What the investors didn't know was that the South Sea Company barely owned a ship. In this gripping account, Malcolm Balen reveals the true story of how a simple stock-share scheme became a Dickensian web of political and financial intrigue that threatened to overturn two monarchies and topple the British government. Set in the mazy back alleys of the newly inaugurated financial districts of 1720s London and Paris, \u003cem\u003eThe King, the Crook, and the Gambler\u003c\/em\u003e is a lively, fast-paced, and surprisingly epic history of how the South Sea Bubble escalated into a catastrophe that made the fortunes of few and the ruin of many -- and has proved the model for every financial bubble since.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50342015762705,"sku":"CIN0007161786G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50998733799697,"sku":"NIN9780007161782","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51227229520145,"sku":"CIN0007161786A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51781633343761,"sku":"CIN0007161786VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53338771947793,"sku":"GOR007843805","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53339271233809,"sku":"GOR007433839","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0007161786.jpg?v=1751163116"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-malcolm-balen.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}