PETER L. BERNSTEIN combines the zest of a historian with the meticulous analytical powers of an economist. He is the author of seven other books on economics and finance, including the bestsellers Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk and Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street. Bernstein is President of Peter L. Bernstein, Inc. He established the firm in 1973 as economic consultants to institutional investors and publisher of Economics & Portfolio Strategy, a semi-monthly newsletter. He lectures widely throughout the United States and abroad and has received the highest honors from his peers in the investment profession.