See the top business books of 2022

Rising interest rates, rampant inflation, supply chain disruption, overheated post-pandemic job markets and a backdrop of geopolitical and environmental crisis: This year’s titles for the Financial Times’ Business Book of the Year shed new light on some of the most important and pressing business issues of the moment.

The 15 books, filtered by FT journalists from nearly 600 entries, include stories, polemics, investigations and analysis of the challenges facing the global economy and some of the world’s best-known corporate names such as General Electric, Boeing, Tencent and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. .

The Price of Time [O preço do tempo]by Edward Chancellor (Penguin Random House, 432 pages – £18.62)

As the global financial system approaches another crisis, Chancellor shows that only by understanding the history of interest rates can we face the challenges ahead.

Power Failure [Falha de energia]by William D. Cohan (Penguin Random House, 816 pages – £23, $32)

Following GE’s leaps and bounds through the personalities that defined it, Power Failure offers a surprising retelling of the company’s history, piercing the myth we thought we knew and taking a fresh look at its legacy — and what it tells us about the situation. of the financial world.

The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order [Ascensão e queda da ordem neoliberal], by Gary Gerstle (Oxford University Press, 432 pages – $25.18)

It’s rare that we can use the term “instant classic” in a book review, but Gary Gerstle’s latest economic story, The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order, deserves the praise.

Direct [Direto]by Kathryn Judge (Harper Business, 304 pages – $26.99)

As a Columbia University law professor, the author has studied the economics of middlemen for more than a decade, and here she dissects how it works in the US — from retailers to real estate agents to banks — and why people should change their ways and, when possible, start going “straight”.

The Power Law [A lei do poder]by Sebastian Mallaby (Penguin Press and Internationale Ausgabe (1990), 512 pages – Penguin Press (2022), 496 pages – US$ 24.99, R$ 177.31)

Sebastian Mallaby’s sweeping, authentic narrative of the venture capital revolution, from its cottage industry roots in the 1950s to its colossal influence today, tells a covert story.

chip war [Guerra de chips]by Chris Miller (Scribner Book Company, 464 pages – $30.)

In Chip War, economic historian Chris Miller recounts the fascinating sequence of events that led the United States to perfect semiconductor design, and how faster chips helped defeat the Soviet Union. The battle to control this industry will shape our future.

Flying Blind [Voo cego]by Peter Robinson (Penguin Random House, 336 pages – £15; Anchor, 336 pages – $18)

This is a compelling and deeply crafted account, written with sharp, controlled anger. It’s an indictment not just of one of America’s most storied companies, but of an entire era: politicians who believed in corporate intelligence, regulators bowing to their will, and shareholder returns above any consideration for the rest of society, including the safety –and the lives– of consumers.

talent [Talento]by Daniel Gross and Tyler Cowen (St. Martin’s Press, 288 pages – £21, $21.99)

Identifying brilliant and underrated individuals is one of the simplest ways to gain an organizational edge, and this is the book that shows you how—both for talent-seekers and for those who want to be sought after, found, and discovered.

The Long Shot [Tiro no escuro]by Kate Bingham and Tim Hames (Oneworld Publications, 352 pages – £18)

This is an insider, unmissable look at how the Vaccination Task Force overcame the odds and accomplished the scientific miracle we’ve all been waiting for.

Butler to the World [Mordomo do mundo]by Oliver Bullough – (St. Martin’s Press, 288 pages – $36, R$155.95)

Butler to the World is filled with stories of how former or remaining outposts of the British Empire, from the British Virgin Islands to Gibraltar, reinvented themselves as places to hide money or escape onerous rules.

dead in the water [Morto na água]by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel – (Atlantic Books, 288 pages – £13.99, $23.99, R$126.26)

Dead in the Water is a triumphant example of what happens when editors give reporters time to pull the threads of a story until illusions are shattered. The result is in part a well-written, well-paced cop. But it is also a moral tale. It pits innocent sailors and a maritime inspector against people who appear to have deliberately set fire to the Brillante Virtuoso, a Suezmax oil tanker.

Influence Empire [Império de influência]by Lulu Chen (Hodder & Stoughton, 256 pages – £19.45, $28.99)

In this fascinating narrative – filled with insider interviews, exclusive details about the company’s culture – technology reporter Lulu Chen tells the story of how Tencent is changing the world and asks what the consequences will be for all of us.

Slouching Towards Utopia [Arrastando-se para a utopia]by J. Bradford DeLong (Basic Books, 546 pages – £30, $30)

In vivid and compelling detail, DeLong charts the unprecedented explosion of material wealth after 1870 that transformed living standards across the world, freeing humanity from centuries of poverty, but which, paradoxically, left us today with unprecedented social inequality. , global warming and widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo.

disorder [Transtorno]by Helen Thompson (Oxford University Press, 384 pages – $25.68)

Helen Thompson’s book Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century [Tempos difíceis no século 21]is an ambitious attempt to weave domestic geopolitical, economic, and political themes into a single narrative—the story of the growing instability of today’s global political system.

Nomad Century [Século nômade]by Gaia Vince (Flatiron Book, 288 pages – $28.99, R$101.88; Allen Lane, 288 pages)

This is a chilling warning that large numbers of people will be forced to migrate on a warming planet that already has twice as many days when temperatures exceed a dangerous 50°C as it did 30 years ago.

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves