War and gold : a 500-year history of empires, adventures, and debt / Kwasi Kwarteng.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kwarteng, Kwasi.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gold--History.

Gold.

History.

Gold standard--History.

Gold standard.

Colonies.

Great Britain--Colonies--Biography.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Colonies--Asia--History.

Great Britain--Colonies--Africa--History.

Africa.

Asia.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

424 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : PublicAffairs, 2014.

Summary:

"The world was wild for gold. After discovering the Americas, and under pressure to defend their vast dominion, the Habsburgs of Spain promoted gold and silver exploration in the New World with ruthless urgency. But, the great influx of wealth brought home by plundering conquistadors couldn' t compensate for the Spanish government' s extraordinary military spending, which would eventually bankrupt the country multiple times over and lead to the demise of the great empire. Gold became synonymous with financial dependability, and following the devastating chaos of World War I, the gold standard came to express the order of the free market system. Warfare in pursuit of wealth required borrowing - a quickly compulsive dependency for many governments. And when people lost confidence in the promissory notes and paper currencies issued during wartime, governments again turned to gold. In this captivating historical study, Kwarteng exposes a pattern of war-waging and financial debt - bedmates like April and taxes that go back hundreds of years, from the French Revolution to the emergence of modern-day China. His evidence is as rich and colorful as it is sweeping. And it starts and ends with gold."--book jacket.

Contents:

Gold : the establishment of order, c. 1500-1914. Sweat of the sun ; Rival nations : England and France ; Revolutions ; Pillars of order ; Great republic ; London 1914

War : the consequences of Armageddon, 1914-1915. guns and shells ; victors and vanquished ; World crisis ; Bretton Woods

The new dollar order, 1945-1973. Pax Americana ; Weary titans ; Japan Incorporated ; Imperial retreat

Paper : the end of gold, 1973- . The impact of oil ; Thatcher and Reagan ; The creation of the Euro

The rise of China ; Delusions of debt ; Crises and 'bailouts'

Appendix. Value of gold stock to world GDP.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 363-410) and index.

ISBN:

9781586487683

158648768X

OCLC:

880225952