David Saul Landes (April 29, 1924 – August 17, 2013) was a professor of economics and of history at Harvard University.^[1] He is the author of Bankers and Pashas, Revolution in Time, The Unbound Prometheus, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, and Dynasties.^[2] Such works have received both praise for detailed retelling of economic history, as well as scorn on charges of Eurocentrism, a charge he openly embraced, arguing that an explanation for an economic miracle that happened originally only in Europe must of necessity be a Eurocentric analysis.

Career

Landes earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1953 and a B.A. from City College of New York in 1942.^[3] While he waited his call up to serve in World War II, Landes studied cryptanalysis. He was assigned to the Signal Corps where he worked on deciphering coded Japanese messages.^[4]

Historian Niall Ferguson called him one of his "most revered mentors".^[5]

Landes was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,^[6] the United States National Academy of Sciences,^[7] and the American Philosophical Society.^[8]

His son Richard Landes is a historian and author.^[9]

Works

• Landes, David S. (2007). Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-03338-6.
• Landes, David S. (1998). The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-04017-8.
• Landes, David S. (1983). Revolution in Time. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-00282-2.
• Landes, David. S. (1969). The Unbound Prometheus: Technological Change and Industrial Development in Western Europe from 1750 to the Present. Cambridge, New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-09418-6.
• Landes, David S., Bankers and Pashas: International Finance and Economic Imperialism in Egypt (1958) [1]