One Nation Under Gold: How One Precious Metal Has Dominated the American Imagination for Four Centuries
Language: English
Published by Liveright, 2017
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.Wonder Book
AbeBooks seller since November 1, 1997
Condition: Used - Very good
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Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.
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- Title
- One Nation Under Gold: How One Precious Metal Has Dominated the American Imagination for Four Centuries
- Author
- Ledbetter, James
- Publisher
- Liveright
- Publication year
- 2017
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Dust Jacket Included
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0871406837
- ISBN 13
- 9780871406835
Worshipped by Tea Party politicians but loathed by sane economists, gold has historically influenced American monetary policy and has exerted an often outsized influence on the national psyche for centuries. Now, acclaimed business writer James Ledbetter explores the tumultuous history and larger-than-life personalities--from George Washington to Richard Nixon--behind America's volatile relationship to this hallowed metal and investigates what this enduring obsession reveals about the American identity.
Exhaustively researched and expertly woven, One Nation Under Gold begins with the nation's founding in the 1770s, when the new republic erupted with bitter debates over the implementation of paper currency in lieu of metal coins. Concerned that the colonies' thirteen separate currencies would only lead to confusion and chaos, some Founding Fathers believed that a national currency would not only unify the fledgling nation but provide a perfect solution for a country that was believed to be lacking in natural silver and gold resources.
Animating the "Wild West" economy of the nineteenth century with searing insights, Ledbetter brings to vivid life the actions of Whig president Andrew Jackson, one of gold's most passionate advocates, whose vehement protest against a standardized national currency would precipitate the nation's first feverish gold rush. Even after the establishment of a national paper currency, the virulent political divisions continued, reaching unprecedented heights at the Democratic National Convention in 1896, when presidential aspirant William Jennings Bryan delivered the legendary "Cross of Gold" speech that electrified an entire convention floor, stoking the fears of his agrarian supporters.
While Bryan never amassed a wide-enough constituency to propel his cause into the White House, America's stubborn attachment to gold persisted, wreaking so much havoc that FDR, in order to help rescue the moribund Depression economy, ordered a ban on private ownership of gold in 1933. In fact, so entrenched was the belief that gold should uphold the almighty dollar, it was not until 1973 that Richard Nixon ordered that the dollar be delinked from any relation to gold--completely overhauling international economic policy and cementing the dollar's global significance. More intriguing is the fact that America's exuberant fascination with gold has continued long after Nixon's historic decree, as in the profusion of late-night television ads that appeal to goldbug speculators that proliferate even into the present.
One Nation Under Gold reveals as much about American economic history as it does about the sectional divisions that continue to cleave our nation, ultimately becoming a unique history about economic irrationality and its influence on the American psyche.
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Wonder Book
Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
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With 3 stores less than 1 hour outside the DC/Metropolitan area (1 in Gaithersburg, 1 in Frederick and 1 in Hagerstown, MD), we have the largest selection of books in the tri-state area. Wonder Book and Video has been in business since 1980 and online since 1997. We have over 1 Million books for sale on our website and another 1 Million books for sale in our 3 locations. Items on Abe are not necessarily in stock at our retail locations. Please do not call the stores to place orders for Abe Books sales. We have a very active online inventory and as such, we can receive multiple orders for the same item. We fill those orders on a first come first serve basis, but will refund promptly any items that are out of stock. Since 1980 it has always been about the books. ALL kinds of books from 95 cent children's paperbacks to five figure rare and collectibles. A merging of the old and new is where we started, and it is where we are today. Our retail stores have always been places where a reader can rush in looking for a title needed for a term paper that is due the next day, or where bibliophiles can get lost "in the stacks" for as long as they wish. In 2002 USAToday recognized us as "1 of 10 Great Old Bookstores", and we have been featured in numerous other newspaper and TV stories including Washington Post and CSpan. Members ABAA, ILAB.…
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