Face value : the entwined histories of money and race in America / Michael O'Malley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Malley, Michael.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--Economic conditions.

African Americans.

African Americans--Public opinion--History.

Equality--Economic aspects--United States--History.

Equality.

Monetary policy--Social aspects--United States--History.

Monetary policy.

Money--Social aspects--United States--History.

Money.

Money--United States--Psychological aspects--History.

Public opinion--United States--History.

Public opinion.

United States--Economic conditions.

United States.

United States--Race relations--Economic aspects--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From colonial history to the present, Americans have passionately, even violently, debated the nature and the character of money. They have painted it and sung songs about it, organized political parties around it, and imprinted it with the name of God-all the while wondering: is money a symbol of the value of human work and creativity, or a symbol of some natural, intrinsic value? In Face Value, Michael O'Malley provides a deep history and a penetrating analysis of American thinking about money and the ways that this ambivalence unexpectedly intertwines with race. Like race, money is bound up in questions of identity and worth, each a kind of shorthand for the different values of two similar things. O'Malley illuminates how these two socially constructed hierarchies are deeply rooted in American anxieties about authenticity and difference. In this compelling work of cultural history, O'Malley interprets a stunning array of historical sources to evaluate the comingling of ideas about monetary value and social distinctions. More than just a history, Face Value offers us a new way of thinking about the present culture of coded racism, gold fetishism, and economic uncertainty.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One. This New Black Flesh Coin

Chapter Two. Banking on Slavery

Chapter Three. Rags, Blacking, and Paper Soldiers

Chapter Four. Gold Money and the Constitution of Man

Chapter Five. A Bank in Human Form

Epilogue: Words and Bonds

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786613655226

9780226629391

0226629392

9781280678295

1280678291

OCLC:

794328577