Frederick Kaufman, an English professor by training and profession, has for the past decade focused his attention on the fiction that is money. His unorthodox insights into the ways of Wall Street have resulted in numerous magazine articles for publications ranging from Scientific American to Wired to Foreign Policy to Harper's, as well as television appearances on NBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business Network, and Democracy Now!, and invitations to lecture in both the United States and Europe, including an address to the General Assembly of the United Nations.
“There is a lot of erudition in Mr. Kaufman’s analysis of money as
a form of storytelling. The word for semiotics, or the study of
symbols, Mr. Kaufman notes, comes from ‘the ancient Greek word
seme, which means both “word” and “coin.”’ The history of money is
the history of communication systems. Like language, money is
rooted in arbitrary custom even as it expands into the basis for
rational cooperation among strangers. The word credit comes from
the Latin word credere, which means ‘to believe.’ All money depends
on the faith of those who use it. And like any powerful belief,
money can be exploited by some to manipulate the minds of others.”
—Wall Street Journal
“Fascinating…Kaufman has a sharp eye for colorful anecdotes and a
witty and incisive prose style. The result is an appealing
compendium of musings and money-related minutiae.” —Publishers
Weekly
“[A] scholarly history of cash and its metaphorical
significance…Tracing the impact of the rise of financial markets,
Kaufman links events and ideas as disparate as Richard Nixon’s
decision to untether the dollar from gold and Claude Lévi-Strauss’
concept of the ‘floating signifier.’” —Kirkus Reviews
“You’ll often hear people say, either jokingly or seriously, that
‘Money isn’t real.’ Debt is a fiction with real consequences. But
why have such fictions been so hard to escape? Why can’t we just
get rid of money? Kaufman’s engagement with these questions
obviously comes at a time when economic inequalities have been
exacerbated in arbitrary, unprecedented ways.” —Literary Hub
“In this unusual and original book, Frederick Kaufman tells the
history of money in its double guise as a medium of exchange and a
symbol of value. In its first form it strives for fixity, but as a
symbol of our fluctuating hopes, fears, and desires, fixity
perpetually eludes it. Being a measure of our freedom to dream,
money can never be given a fixed value in a free society. Required
bedtime reading for central bank governors tasked with ‘controlling
the money supply.’” —Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of
Political Economy at Warwick University and coauthor of How Much Is
Enough?
“Fascinating. An irreverent, grand, and captivating history tour of
money: what it is and what it does to each and all of
us.” —George Papaconstantinou, former finance minister of
Greece and author of Game Over: The Inside Story of the Greek
Crisis
“With well-deserved authority and a pleasing narrative flair,
Frederick Kaufman explores the origins of money—why we have it,
where it came from, and what it means today. If you ever wondered
why people are willing to accept a funny-looking piece of paper in
exchange for a richly marbled New York strip steak, this is the
book for you.” —William D. Cohan, New York Times bestselling author
of House of Cards and The Last Tycoons
“In The Money Plot, Frederick Kaufman masterfully unravels the
fascinating tale of money as an ever-changing reflection of
whatever people believe or need it to be, and as defined by
historical period, perspective, and circumstance. From beads to
gold to paper to bitcoins to yes, bacon, Kaufman takes us on a
journey through a remarkable diversity of leaders, events,
relationships, and products to provide a provocative biography
of money itself. A must-read for anyone wondering just how much
money central banks can create, how high can markets go, and how
much speculation we can endure—before the next crisis.” —Nomi
Prins, author of Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the
World and All the Presidents’ Bankers
“A splendid treatment of money-as-metaphor, from Midas and Gorgias
to Jackson and Biddle, and on to Nixon, Connally, and the end of
gold.” —James K. Galbraith, author of The End of Normal
“Economists have long understood that we hold paper money only
because we believe others will want to hold it too. In this
fascinating book, Frederick Kaufman takes the argument one step
further: those beliefs can only be sustained by stories. The story
of money is a story. It is not from the benevolence of the banker,
the stock broker, or the financier that we expect our dinner, but
from their regard for the tales that only gifted fabulists like
Kaufman can tell.” —Andrés Velasco, former Finance Minister of
Chile and current Dean of the School of Public Policy at the London
School of Economics
“In The Money Plot, Frederick Kaufman offers a startling
thesis—that money is a metaphor, a fiction—and makes it plausible
by brilliantly interweaving economics, literary theory,
anthropology, and political history. Distilling vast erudition into
wonderfully readable prose, Kaufman gives us an important book that
brims with fresh insights into the ways that money, from ancient
times to today, has been a floating symbol with no stable meaning.”
—David S. Reynolds, winner of the Bancroft Prize for American
History and author of Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times
“A tantalizing analysis of how the lifeblood of the market came
into being, and how it can make or break the capitalist system. You
will never grasp the true meaning of money, now and into the
future, without reading this book.” —Mauro F. Guillén, author
of 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape
the Future of Everything
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