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The History of Money: A Story of Humanity
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About This Book
In this fresh, eye-opening global history, economist David McWilliams charts the relationship between humans and money—from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley.The story of humanity is inextricable from that of money. No innovation has defined our own evolution so thoroughly and changed the direction of our planet's history so dramatically. And yet despite money's primacy, most of us don't truly understand it. As leading economist David McWilliams shows, money is central to every aspect of our civilization, from the political to the artistic. "Money defines the relationship between worker and employer, buyer and seller, merchant and producer. But not only it also defines the bond between the governed and the governor, the state and the citizen. Money unlocks pleasure, puts a price on desire, art and creativity. It motivates us to strive, achieve, invent and take risks. Money also brings out humanity's darker side, invoking greed, envy, hatred, violence and, of course, colonialism." In The History of Money, McWilliams takes us across the world, from the birthplace of money in ancient Babylon to the beginning of trade along the Silk Road, from Marrakech markets to Wall Street. Along the way, we meet a host of innovators, emperors, frauds, and speculators, who have disrupted society and transformed the way we live. Filled with memorable anecdotes, and with a foreword by Michael Lewis, The History of Money is an essential, extremely readable history of humanity's most consequential invention.
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Reviews
"It could not possibly be comprehensive...but it is idiosyncratic and interesting."
"McWilliams admits that he is not a solitary writer but a chatty one, someone who writes by bouncing ideas off others to help wrestle masses of facts, figures and disjointed ideas into an overall story that is not simply convincing and coherent but entertaining and compelling too."
"Enjoyable and insightful ..."
"An absolute romp through history, with money—its uses and misuses—as the throughline."
"His book is well researched and crammed full of anecdotes that help bring a dry subject to life ..."
"A scholarly work worth more than a single read."
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