Customer Reviews

The Flight of the Barbarous Relic

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Forget what party you may be supporting. Forget a lot of things you have been told about how our economy works. Read this book and you will begin to understand things that we have been kept in the dark and lied to for decades by both parties.

First of all this is a pretty good story. Secondly, in delivering the story, the author is trying to shake us awake as to what is happening to us and the result is far from pleasant.

In fact, the protagonists in the story have a sense of futility as to awakening enough of us to what has been done to our economy that seems difficult to oversome.

I was asked to review this novel by the author. I did and I am not sure I was not happier living in ignorance. However, it is better to understand one's life and situation and if you agree with that premise, then please, pick up this book and be prepared to be very, very worried about our econoomy and our future.

The "barbarous relic" referred to in the title is the gold standard which at one time in our history tied the value of our currency to that precious metal. If that sounds arcane or old fashioned, I challenge you to read this book and ever feel sanguine again about your economic status in this country, especially if you feel really, really comfortable.

The Flight of the Barbarous Relic is a completely unexpected book. George Smith makes a fascinating and suspenseful story out of a question some of us have asked ourselves: "Who stole the value of the money in our wallets?" Inflation is a faceless evil, but the author has managed to put faces and motives on the folks behind the phenomenon.

I have been puzzled by the news on the financial networks. One newscast recently said that the price of food had risen in the last month by the highest amount in years, and then went on to say that since there was no increase in the cost of living, some change in interest rates was expected. No change in the cost of living? I used to think you needed to buy food to live, but it turns out that food and energy, two of our biggest living expenses aren't included in the cost because they change too much. You can understand why this whole area can be very confusing.

As the pastor of a small church, I have seen the effects that our economic situation is having on "ordinary" people. One lady who works in a bank dreads going in to work in the morning, because the first thing she has to do is call an increasing number of her customers who have written checks--for rent, for utilities, for food, etc.--and ask them if they can provide funds for the checks so the bank won't bounce them. I have seen families cut back on everything they can think of to make payments on mortgage they should never have been offered in the first place. I have seen food pantry workers trying to fill needs for food for folks who have spent their food budget at the gas pumps in order to be able to get to work.

Those who are hurting most are the very ones who are trying to do the right thing--to work for their living, to support their families, to pay their debts, and to live a decent life. Most are too basically honest to believe that they have been robbed on such a scale. Most have trusted and supported the leaders who manage the economic environment in which they live. Business as usual has been going on for a long time.

This book, with its different perspective, shows this part of our economic system from the inside. It's a book of mystery, intrigue, and glimpses behind the scenes, which of course makes it fun. But it does also raise some relevant ideas and interesting questions to take away and consider. It is worth a look.

I don't usually read novels very often, because I think that I should be learning something when I read. _The Flight of the Barbarous Relic_, however, is the best of both worlds; it is an entertaining way to learn the truth of how the Federal Reserve operates without having to read a dry text! I really enjoyed this book; I recommend it to everyone. It's a great way to educate people on the Fed. You can recommend it to your book club or hand it to everyone who is wondering why our gas prices are so high.

George Ford Smith does an excellent job of distilling the essence of an Austrian School analysis of status quo economics into 277 pages of page-turning suspense. If you're like me, and you read a lot of fiction and history, but can't make it through even the most accessible book on economics (even though you know it's an important subject) without your eyes glazing over, then this book is for you.

Smith provides a trenchant survey of the history of money and banking in America, and then gets to the heart of what ails us at the outset of the Third Milennium. As the plot unfolds in his nifty little thriller, his characters manage to find opportunities to expound on how it all went wrong with the Business of America, when we got off track, who was responsible, and how we can get back to the garden, as it were. Do I need to mention that the prescription is as good as gold?

As if that weren't enough, Smith excoriates our two-party farce, and why they are wedded to this sad state of affairs called the Federal Reserve System. And the ends the powers-that-be will go to in order to retain their power. A chilling subplot envisions how the Internet could end up being emasculated and bowdlerized to the point where it would be as original and informative as the CBS Evening News.

And you would be well-advised to look into the books on the short reading list at the end of Barbarous Relic. If those tomes are a little too daunting, look up some of the more accessible essays by the same authors (Rothbard, Mises, etc). To read these giants is to immediately recognise that you are in the company of common sense. And these are the ideas George Ford Smith is trafficking in Flight of the Barbarous Relic.

But none of this is meant to dissuade anyone who is looking for a cracking good tale to occupy a few happy hours. Barbarous Relic is filled with a plethora of interesting characters, good and bad, and once I started it, I couldn't put it down.

This book puts, in novel form, virtually everything every American needs to know about the Federal Reserve, fiat-money central banking, and monetary history, and it does so following an unadulterated Austrian line, without any conspiracy mongering or Antisemitism -- two curses that plague the Honest Money movement. Author George Ford Smith is unique among popular Fed critics in his understanding that the Fed is not bad because it's a "private bank" that generates "windfall profits" for its "shareholders" -- the Fed is bad, truly evil, because it is a government institution designed to provide a blank check for the unbridled growth of the federal government at the expense of liberty.

Oh yes, there has been a conspiracy -- but it's not a "theory," it's historical fact. George F. Smith reveals this indisputable truth throughout the course of this 274-page, impossible-to-put-down thriller, and also clearly demonstrates how the Federal Reserve redistributes wealth from the poor to the rich, all within the context of a gripping plot.

The story focuses on a gold-loving, free-market economist who seemingly "sells out" and joins the mainstream, eventually rising to the position of Fed chairman. But his "sell out" was false -- he only put on Keynesian/Monetarist (as if there's a difference) garb in order to infiltrate the Fed so that he could expose and destroy it! I'm not giving anything away here since this happens very early in the book. The heart of the book is how the government reacts to having its deception exposed.

George Ford Smith's knowledge of monetary history, the nature of government, and the unfortunate ignorance and apathy of the American populace is truly peerless. This book should be heralded by the Mises Institute, LewRockwell.com, and the Ron Paul R3VOLution as the first of hopefully many great works of fiction exposing the truth about the Federal Reserve and the government it sponsors by secretly stealing from the productive class. Five stars are not enough for this heroic effort!

this book was excellent on two levels. It carried an interesting and quick-paced story line with easily absorbed facts relating to the federal reserve system and our current economic atmosphere. I found it hard to put down!! Let's see a sequel!!

This would be a great way to help your young teenager to understand the implications the Federal Reserve will have on them when they get older. An educated public will formulate educated policies. You never know if your child might become the next President! This is a great way to help them "get informed".

If you find yourself unable to crack a text book or history book to learn about the underpinnings of your entire financial existence and place in the pecking order but are ready to be enlightened, this book is a great start. As a novel, the fact that there is a story line will help to keep you turning pages. Parents should give this to highschoolers to read as well to help them learn how to navigate our bogus economy and give them a head start in the real world.

This novel not only has a very interesting and suspenseful story line, it also educates its reader on the truth to the American economy. For anyone who is interested in learning more about the real ways our money works, and at the same time get tied into a very story that won't let go until the very end, this book is for you! This book is definitely a must-read!

For anyone who enjoys a good story this book is highly recommended. But besides being a good story, there is a huge bonus: it is the best summary of the United States' system of fiat money as administered by the Federal Reserve Board I've ever read. If events occurring lately such as the decreasing value of the dollar, the erratic and steadily declining stock market, and the relentless decades-long inflation of our currency are of any concern to you, this book is a must read.