Ha-Joon Chang dispels the myths and prejudices that have come to dominate our understanding of how the world works. He succeeds in both setting the historical record straight (`the washing machine has changed the world more than the internet`; `the US does not have the highest living standard in the world`; `people in poor countries are more entrepreneurial than people in rich countries`) and persuading us of the consequences of his analysis (`making rich people richer doesn`t make the rest of us richer`; `companies should not be run in the interest of their owners`; `financial markets need to become less, not more, efficient`). As Chang shows above all else, all economic choices are political ones, and it is time we started to be honest about them.