Frozen Desire: The Meaning of Money [Hardcover]

James Buchan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

An extended, sententious meditation on the meaning of money across the centuries explores how money symbolizes human desires, how it has driven history, and the uses--moral and immoral--to which it has been put."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Novelist Buchan (High Latitudes, Farrar, 1996), a former correspondent for the Financial Times, traces the meaning of money since its beginning. He discusses money in its various formats, emphasizing that money itself is not just an object but "an outcome of a vast mountain of social arrangements." Various scenarios depict the role of money in love, war, religion, and other areas of human culture. Buchan uses many historical and literary works to clarify the perception of money throughout the ages, relying on Aristotle, Columbus, Shakespeare, John Law, Marx, and Keynes, to name a few, in these stimulating discussions. Although he writes in a scholarly style, Buchan his many suspenseful and intriguing passages. Recommended for public and academic libraries.?Steven J. Mayover, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A discursive and idiosyncratic appreciation of currency, from British novelist and former Financial Times correspondent Buchan (High Latitudes, 1996, etc.), who, the subtitle notwithstanding, never manages to construe its many-splendored meanings. Drawing on a wealth of sources, the author offers hit-or-miss audits of the mediums of exchange humankind has used and abused down through the years. Characterizing money as ``incarnate desire'' (in the sense that takes individual wishes and transmits them to the wider world), he compares the dichotomous teachings of Jesus with those of Muslim prophets, who viewed the religious and socioeconomic spheres as an indivisible whole. Buchan goes on to assess the varied implications of coinage, the just-price construct of medieval theologians, the invention of double-entry bookkeeping by Fra Luca Pacioli, Europe's lust for precious metals in the Age of Discovery, and the emergence of bank notes (which undermined the sovereignty of monarchs). Covered as well are the fiscal discipline a gold standard imposes on spendthrift governments, the sundry roles played by money in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, the latter-day ascendancy of creditors (including junk-bond king Michael Milken) over borrowers, and capital as the sine qua non of belligerencies ranging from revolutions through wars of conquest. At the close, however, Buchan abruptly changes course. In the stated hope that the Age of Money (like the Age of Faith before it) will soon draw to an end, he exits with an impassioned albeit unsubstantiated diatribe indicting money as the principal cause of environmental destruction, global warming, overdevelopment, perpetual conflict, and other ills to which modern civilization is heir. These often murky essays will add precious little to anyone's understanding of what makes the world go around. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T) (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374159092
• ISBN-13: 978-0374159092
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #841,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the top five of the most important books I've ever read., May 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Frozen Desire: The Meaning of Money (Hardcover)

James Buchan is not apt to win friends or influence people in the world of commerce with the views put forth in this book, but he has won my undying gratitude. His strong opinions caused me to reflect deeply on the meaning of money in my own life and my responsibilties towards it. While I disagree strongly with some of his conclusions, I admire both his scholarship and his literary skills. My hat is off to this masterpiece of misarguria.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, November 8, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (delaware) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frozen Desire: The Meaning of Money (Hardcover)

This book is hard to categorize...is it philosophy, economics, history or essay? It has to be all of these, and while it is not fully satisfactory in any of these categories, never quite reaching its stated and implied aims, it is a fascinating read. For one thing it is beautifully written, in a rich meandering prose, which gives the seemingly dull subject a shine like the gold around which the tale is woven. There are fascinating characters, stories and vignettes, and the book suceeds in at least stirring the reader to question the nature of money, even if it does not provide answers.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars money, still a mystery, but a nice overview., July 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Frozen Desire: The Meaning of Money (Hardcover)

James Buchan has produced a history of money: thoroughly researched, scholarly,and accurate; But also, highly opinionated, literate and a joy to read. This is not the money of the economists or the financiers...this is the money of the writers and artists..... it probably wont help you make any money, but it will give you a lot to think about. Highly recommended.