The History of Money: From Sandstone to Cyberspace

Jack Weatherford

Three Rivers Press, 1997 - Business & Economics - 288 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

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - DLMorrese - LibraryThing

I saw this book while browsing at the library and thought it might be interesting. It is. I already knew a bit about the subject, although I didn't know that The Wizard of Oz was a satire about the ...

THE HISTORY OF MONEY: The Struggle Over Money from Sandstone to Cyberspace

User Review  - Kirkus

An engagingly digressive audit of the mediums of exchange humankind has used and abused down through the years, from anthropologist Weatherford (Savages and Civilization, 1994, etc.). Drawing on a ...

Contents

• The World Market: 1
• Cannibals Chocolate and Cash: 15
• 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 Devils Mint: 123
• Metric Money: 141
• The Gold Bug: 153
• 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
• Bibliography: 275

About the author

Jack Weatherford is the New York Times bestselling author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World, The 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.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The History of Money: From Sandstone to Cyberspace
• Author: Jack Weatherford
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press, 1997
• ISBN: 0609801724, 9780609801727
• Length: 288 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Economic History; Business & Economics / Money & Monetary Policy; History / World; Social Science / Anthropology / General