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The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession
In this exciting new book, Peter L. Bernstein, who chronicled the evolution of risk in his recent bestseller, Against the Gods, tells the story of history's most coveted, celebrated, and inglorious asset: gold. From the ancient fascinations of Moses and Midas through the modern convulsions caused by the gold standard and its aftermath, gold has led many of its most eager a...more
Hardcover, 448 pages
Published
September 13th 2000
by John Wiley & Sons
(first published 2000)
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Mankinds history of a Gold obsession. Bersntein captures Greek, Persian, Asian and Roman civilization's obsession for gold. He follows the Spaniards, Portuguese and British to the Americas, not to baptize the heathens, but to loot their gold. The European riches become nothing but rags after decades of trading silver and gold for simplistic puerilities, silk and spices to Asian societies - China and India, a mirror image of trade between the U.S. and China. Subsequently, he emphasizes the impo...more
Man has always had this mad fascination for gold and this book attempts to trace the story behind this often self-destructive obsession that gold seems to induce in us. This book is informative in parts; certain sections like the Spanish conquest in South America, Newton's role in Economics & British monetary policy and the recent delinking of $ from the gold standard are good reads, but overall, this book failed to connect all the dots and keep the interest alive. I was left unsatisfied at the ...more
Did you know that every bit of gold ever extracted from the earth still exists? Did you know that if you hoarded all that gold into one pile, it wouldn't even fill one of today's oil supertankers?
Bernstein's book is a great read. Hopefully I'll have time to write a more extensive review later. The scope of the book runs from the Bronze Age in Greece to the 1990s, with pit stops in Rome, Byzantine, Arabia, China, Renaissance Italy, Enlightenment England, and the gold rushes of 19th c...more
Bernstein's book is a great read. Hopefully I'll have time to write a more extensive review later. The scope of the book runs from the Bronze Age in Greece to the 1990s, with pit stops in Rome, Byzantine, Arabia, China, Renaissance Italy, Enlightenment England, and the gold rushes of 19th c...more
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This book is a history of gold. Today there are many who would like us to go back to the gold standard (a dollar is equal to a certain amount of gold). They think this would impose fiscal discipline on our government. It might for awhile, but Bernstein shows time and again how governments debase their currencies. Gold coins worth one unit are recalled, melted, and recast as coins worth two units. Having gold backed currency might help, but it is no magic pill that will solve our budget problems.
A quite interesting walk through history. Some very interesting stories. I particularly loved the info in the more distant past, as for the more recent past I think the author too easily presents as "known" issues that many economists still disagree on, and seems to partly close an eye on the fact that we are in many respects in uncharted waters historically as in terms of percentage of history it's a quite small one since we've gone so far away from gold. Time will tell.
This is an excellent, informative book. For those seeking more of a social history of gold or a history of mining practices, it may be a tad disappointing. Though the author does dip into these subject areas, they aren't his primary interests.
Instead, the author focuses on economic decisions and their consequences. Most of the chapters describe the historical use of gold as a monetary standard and the scrambling of elites to secure huge reserves. Throughout the book, Bernstein highli...more
Instead, the author focuses on economic decisions and their consequences. Most of the chapters describe the historical use of gold as a monetary standard and the scrambling of elites to secure huge reserves. Throughout the book, Bernstein highli...more
Any work which says that the symbol for gold is AU (rather than Au) raises my scientific hackles a bit. Some of the quotes that I checked against originals were sloppy, and the same applied to one of the ones that I already knew. These were probably errors in editing, but I was a bit disappointed. That said, it was a reasonable read.
This is a good book. My only reservation is that it's a bit dry, and not always easy to want to get through the pages. I persevered though, and it was well worth it. This book talks about the history of Gold, from its beginnings with uses by the Pharos of Egypt, to it's use as currency, first as bricks, to standardized bricks, to coins - standardized coins, to the Gold Standard, and finally the fall of the Gold Standard, by Nixon in '71.
It has substantial discussion about the depressio...more
It has substantial discussion about the depressio...more
Sweet book on the history of not only gold but money and the representation of value. This is one awesome economic history lesson (and one I gladly came across)
How can cod be turned into an interesting book, and yet gold (used in craft and technology for thousands of years) can be made to be so unbelievably dull.
Great book. Amazing overview on the history of capitalism and finance and how it ties together with global politics and evolution of civilization
BOOK: The history of gold as a decoration, sign of wealth, enhancer of beauty, monitary standard, inflation hedge
Generally unsatisfactory. The perspective changed in midstream to anti-gold dogma, which would be acceptable if the question of what happens to an economy when governments act irresponsibly.
Fascinating historical overview.
A wonderful anecdotal history. If you are a general history buff this is a must read. Imagine following a commodity through history like the books about Salt and chocolate, but on a larger scale and with a wider angle lens.
(This means you Guy.)
(This means you Guy.)
Was a fascinating history of gold from the beginning of time.
Also the history of how economic and financial policy changed over time, greatly influenced by the immense impact of the power of gold. A little heavy at times.
Also the history of how economic and financial policy changed over time, greatly influenced by the immense impact of the power of gold. A little heavy at times.
works well in juxtaposition with David Graeber's "Toward an Anthropological Theory of Value: The False Coin of Our Dreams", and especially his latest "Debt: The First 5,000 Years"
This has more economics in it than the title suggests, which was a good thing, for me.
And no, I'm not gonna pull all my money out of a bank and put it in bouillon.
A good history of gold and our obsession for this.
Bernstein is a great writer in the world of economics. In this book, he takes the reader through the history of gold and its relation to society and economics, from pre-Midas to post gold-backed dollars. How is it that with all the gold that Spain took out of South America, Spain ended up with less gold than it started with before Cortez? How did gold play into the economic disasters? Does gold serve a function as wealth, money, or adornment? Without gold backed currencies, what has taken t...more
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Founder and President of Peter L. Bernstein, Inc., which he established in 1973 as economic consultants to institutional investors and corporations around the world.
In 1951, after teaching economics at Williams College and a five-year stint in commercial banking, Peter became Chief Executive of a nationally–known investment counsel firm, where he personally managed billions of dollars ...more
More about Peter L. Bernstein...
In 1951, after teaching economics at Williams College and a five-year stint in commercial banking, Peter became Chief Executive of a nationally–known investment counsel firm, where he personally managed billions of dollars ...more
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