Our obsession with land is the driving force behind human history. It has sparked revolutions and fuelled economic booms as well as financial crises. Land is the world's oldest and most important asset, and it governs the course of our lives more than any other form of wealth. But this immense power is also what makes it so dangerous.

In The Land Trap, The Economist's Wall Street editor Mike Bird reveals a sweeping, global history that shows how fortunes have been built - or destroyed - all on the bedrock of land. It has become the linchpin of the world's banking system and it affects everything from soaring housing prices to geopolitical tensions. From the speculative land grabs of colonial America to China's modern-day real estate crisis, this gripping narrative shows how the economics of land can make and break families, businesses, and even entire nations.