Jude Wanniski in The Way the World Works (Simon & Schuster, rev. ed., 1983), an ambitious "supply side" re- interpretation of history in terms of taxation and economic principles.
"What made the Industrial Revolution and the Pax Britannica possible," Wanniski argues, with an eye on contemporary American poli- tics, "was the audacity of the British Parlia- ment," which ignored the experts' dire warnings about the growing national debt in 18 15, after the defeat...