The History of Money

Front Cover
Crown, Mar 10, 1998 - Business & Economics - 304 pages
“If you’re interested in the revolutionary transformation of the meaning and use of money, this is the book to read!”—Charles R. Schwab

Cultural anthropologist Jack Weatherford traces our relationship with money, from primitive man’s cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange. The History of Money explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will continue to shape all aspects of our lives—economic, political, and personal.
 
“A fascinating book about the force that makes the world go round—the dollars, pounds, francs, marks, bahts, ringits, kwansas, levs, biplwelles, yuans, quetzales, pa’angas, ngultrums, ouguiyas, and other 200-odd brand names that collectively make up the mysterious thing we call money.”—Los Angeles Times
 

Contents

The World Market
1
CLASSIC CASH
13
The Fifth Element
28
The Premature Death of Money
46
Knights of Commerce
64
New Money for Old Art
80
The Golden Curse
93
PAPER MONEY
109
The Yellow Brick Road
168
The Golden Playpen of Politics
178
ELECTRONIC MONEY
191
The Cash Ghetto
209
Interlude in Plastic
219
The Erotic Life of Electronic Money
233
The Art of Currency Terror
251
The Age of Money
264

The Devils Mint
123
Metric Money
141
The Gold Bug
153

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About the author (1998)

Jack Weatherford is the New York Times bestselling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern WorldIndian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the WorldThe Secret History of the Mongol Queens, and The History of Money, among other acclaimed books. A specialist in tribal peoples, he was for many years a professor of anthropology at Macalester College in Minnesota and now divides his time between the United States and Mongolia.

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