“It is impossible to trade without fighting, it is impossible to fight without trading.” This famous phrase, as critics noted, is a kind of quintessence of William Bernstein’s book, dedicated to one of the most interesting topics - the history of world trade. It began in the 3rd millennium BC era, when the Sumerians first began to pay for goods in silver - and continues to this day. “If you don’t cheat, you won’t sell” - this is the ancient motto of merchants. But sometimes trade interests worked wonders: they discovered new lands and continents, helped conquer and destroy empires, built bridges between peoples and civilizations. So what is it really like, this amazing story of the Great Exchange?..