A nation of counterfeiters : capitalists, con men, and the making of the United States / Stephen Mihm.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mihm, Stephen, 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bank notes--Forgeries--United States.

Bank notes.

Banks and banking--United States.

Banks and banking.

Counterfeits and counterfeiting--United States.

Counterfeits and counterfeiting.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (457 p. ) ill., ports.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Prior to the Civil War, the United States did not have a single, national currency. Counterfeiters flourished amid this anarchy, putting vast quantities of bogus bills into circulation. Their success, Mihm reveals, is more than an entertaining tale of criminal enterprise: it is the story of the rise of a country defined by freewheeling capitalism and little government control. Mihm shows how eventually the older monetary system was dismantled, along with the counterfeit economy it sustained.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Prologue: Confidence and the Currency

1. Bordering on Alchemy

2. Cogniac Street Capitalism

3. The Bank Wars

4. The Western Bankers

5. Passing and Detecting

6. Ghosts in the Machine

7. Banking on the Nation

Epilogue: Confidence in the Country

ABBREVIATIONS

NOTES

A NOTE ON SOURCES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [379]-427) and index.

ISBN:

9780674041011

0674041011

OCLC:

1013954660