Not the most interesting question in the world, but you guys have always helped me out with queries in the past. I'm taking a global economic history module next term and as much as I love history I have little more than a layman's familiarity with economics.
Any books that could be suggested to get me up to some sort of speed would be great. Specifically anything European (and even Irish) if at all possible, though I'm definitely going to check out Friedman's Monetary History of the United States. Thanks!
Any of these books seem to be what you're looking for, so you can take your pick:
Jeffrey Friedan's Global Capitalism is a great overview of economics in the 20th century.
Joyce Appleby's The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism
Angus Bergin's The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets since the Great Depression
Daniel Stedman Jones's Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics
Thomas Piketty's new book Capital in the Twenty-First Century is making a huge splash in the economic, political science, and historical academic professions right now.
For books specifically about Europe, you may want to check out:
Harold James's Making the European Monetary Union
David Marsh's The Euro: The Battle for the New Global Currency