The Almighty Dollar: 500 Years of the World's Most Powerful Money
Regular price
$25.50 USD
Regular price
$42.50 USD
Sale price
$25.50 USD
Unit price
per
You save $17.00 USD (40%)
In stock — Ships within 1–2 business days
Format
Print Book
Currently viewing
Hardcover
$25.50 USD
$42.50 USD
Secure CheckoutYour data is protected
Fast U.S. ShippingShips within 1–2 business days
Authentic Titles100% Genuine Books
Book Overview In this ambitious and groundbreaking history of the dollar, financial journalist and economic scholar Brendan Greeley makes a new argumen...
In this ambitious and groundbreaking history of the dollar, financial journalist and economic scholar Brendan Greeley makes a new argument about the origins of our money--and the people and nations who have surrendered to it.
"Eye-opening, educational, exhaustively reported, and very fun to read."--Foreign Policy
America's money is global money--nearly every nation in the world writes international contracts in dollars, and in 2023, central banks around the world held nearly $6.7 trillion in dollar reserves, three times any other currency. Today, the United States' global hegemony rests largely on its ability to produce unlimited treasury bonds that are sold around the world, dollars that supported America's explosive growth in the twentieth century and funded its massive wars in the twenty-first. American power and the American dollar have become synonymous.
Yet in this brilliant 500-year history, Brendan Greeley argues that America's sovereignty over the dollar is an illusion--that the dollar had already empowered and destroyed nations long before it washed up on colonial shores, and that no country or king has or can ever truly control it. Reaching back to the dollar's birth as the taler in the 15th-century silver mines of St. Joachimsthal, Greeley reveals how the dollar first thrived as a commodity for merchants and bankers--a big, silver coin that was trusted around the world, even as the miners who pulled it from the ground had trouble getting paid in that same silver. Greeley traces a captivatingly complex path across time and place, from the industrial collapse at the heart of Spain's 17th-century silver empire, to the birth of American paper dollars in colonial Maryland, 19th-century New Orleans bank failures, and the small town of Hawarden, Iowa, which created its own dollars during the Great Depression. At every surprising turn, Greeley upends assumptions about global currencies and draws out the centuries-old tension between how dollars are manufactured and whom they actually serve.
Singular in its breadth, The Almighty Dollar dismantles the myth that America created or has ever truly controlled the dollar. Through meticulous research and vividly rendered stories of merchants, monarchs, and everyday people both past and present, Greeley shows how the dollar became America's greatest export, spawning a vast financial industry that enriches the wealthy, even as the rest of the country's industries suffer.
Book Details Format: Hardcover | Publisher: CROWN PUB INC | ISBN: 0593138880
FormatHardcover
ISBN0593138880
EAN9780593138885
PublisherCROWN PUB INC
Publication Date2026-05-19
AccessoriesNo Accessory
ConditionNew
Product TypeHARD COVER BOOKS
Weight1.32 Pounds
Length9.38 Inches
Width6.23 Inches
Height1.66 Inches
Shipping & Returns Fast, reliable shipping and easy returns on eligible items.
Most orders ship within 1–2 business days with fast, reliable U.S. delivery.
Eligible items can be returned within 30 days in line with our store return policy.
Why shop with AlbakiReads
Fresh Inventory from Major Publishers
Sourced through trusted book distributors, with fresh titles added regularly.
Secure Checkout
Your payment information is encrypted and protected every step of the way.
Fast U.S. Shipping
Most orders ship within 1–2 business days.
Books for Every Kind of Reader
From page-turners to timeless classics—find your next favorite read.
