David Saul Landes (April 29, 1924 – August 17, 2013) was a professor of economics and of history at Harvard University.
[1] He is the author of Bankers and Pashas, Revolution in Time, The Unbound Prometheus, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, and Dynasties.
[2] Such works have received both praise for detailed retelling of economic history, as well as scorn on charges of Eurocentrism, a charge he openly embraced, arguing that an explanation for an economic miracle that happened originally only in Europe must of necessity be a Eurocentric analysis.
[3] While he waited his call-up to serve in World War II, Landes studied cryptanalysis.
He was assigned to the Signal Corps, where he worked on deciphering Japanese coded messages.