History of Money and Banking in the United States and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy New

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime Free Trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn More
Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$8.79 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Sell Back Your Copy
For a $3.18 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II
 
 
Start reading History of Money and Banking in the United States on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II [Hardcover]

Murray N. Rothbard (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)

Price: $19.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it delivered Tuesday, January 31? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $4.99  
Hardcover $19.00  
Unknown Binding --  

Book Description

August 30, 2002
In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the Colonial Period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history.

Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume.

From the introduction by Joseph Salerno:

"Rothbard employs the Misesian approach to economic history consistently and dazzlingly throughout the volume to unravel the causes and consequences of events and institutions ranging over the course of U.S. monetary history, from the colonial times through the New Deal era. One of the important benefits of Rothbard's unique approach is that it naturally leads to an account of the development of the U.S. monetary system in terms of a compelling narrative linking human motives and plans that often-times are hidden, and devious, leading to outcomes that sometimes are tragic. And one will learn much more about monetary history from reading this exciting story than from poring over reams of statistical analysis. Although its five parts were written separately, this volume presents a relative integrated narrative, with very little overlap, that sweeps across three hundreds years of U.S. monetary history."


Frequently Bought Together

A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II + The Mystery of Banking + The Case Against the Fed
Price For All Three: $48.95

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together
  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Mystery of Banking $20.00

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • The Case Against the Fed $9.95

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) distinguished himself as an economist, writing a major treatise on theory, several important economic histories, and a highly praised history of economic thought. But he was also known as the pioneer thinker of libertarianism, the political philosophy that roots freedom in private property ownership and decries the state as inherently contrary to the ethics of a free society. Writing from this perspective, he gained a reputation as the most provocative and influential contributor to the anarchist tradition in our century.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 510 pages
  • Publisher: Ludwig Von Mises Inst (August 30, 2002)
  • ISBN-10: 0945466331
  • ISBN-13: 978-0945466338
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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

 

Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 116 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, Behind-the-Scenes Intrigue Revealed!, October 11, 2002
By 
This review is from: A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II (Hardcover)
Absolutely fabulous! Only the incomparable Rothbard could tell this compelling story in its full richness and detail.

Here the hidden history of money and banking in America unfolds as the internecine, behind-the-scenes warfare between elite financial interests such as the House of Morgan and the Rockefellers, the electoral struggle between the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans, and the duel-to-the-death Bank War of Nicholas Biddle and Andrew Jackson.

Discover the intriguing facts of how post-Civil War ethnoreligious political conflict between postmillennial pietist Protestant Republicans versus liturgical libertarian Democrats translated into deeply-felt attitudes toward inflation, sound money, and the Gold Standard.

Explore the arcane and clandestine origins of the powerful Federal Reserve, a secretive institution still clouded in mystery and myth.

This magnificent volume of unpublished and previously published writings by the late Murray N. Rothbard deserves to be on the shelf of every careful scholar of political economy, and of everyone who enjoys the discovery of unseasonable and unsettling truths concerning the government elites who attempt to run our lives, debase our money, and squander our children's futures.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Historical Economics Text!!!, August 17, 2006
This review is from: A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II (Hardcover)
Murray Rothbard delivers an absolute winner of a text written in the same easily readable style of "What Has Government Done To Our Money & The Case For a 100% Gold Dollar".

He has covered this lengthy timeline from the perspective of who the main players were, what their motives were, and what were the results of their actions. So what this book is NOT is a dry empirical statistical history...phew!!!

What you do get is a terrific understanding of the power struggle running through the timeline between the Houses of Morgan and Rockefeller, with of course the supporting cast of the Harrimans, Kuhn Loeb, Guggenheims and the Mellons, as it centred on their quest for banking domination, via the struggle between the sound money gold standard protaganists and the monetarist inflationary camp! Rothbard weaves in the political situation throughout so that you are able to develop a rounded picture of the political scene based on the power broking of these financial elite too. Outstanding!!

This history of the power struggles and the oscillations between sound money and inflationary monetarism will also take you through the genesis of the new Republic, the origins of the Federal Reserve, the New deal, and the Gold Exchange Standard.

It's fascinating stuff, superbly written, with excellent, detailed bottom-of-page footnoting and an extensive index.

My guess is this will be remembered as the seminal text on this subject in the decades to come!

If you haven't already read "What Has Government Done To Our Money & The Case For a 100% Gold Dollar", then you will want to as this text will also leave you wanting to further explore sound money and the Gold Standard. If you then really want to get to the heart of Rothbard, then I wholeheartedly recommend you read his awesome treatise "Man, Economy and State with Power and Market(Scholars Edition)".

You most definitely will not regret it!!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best Read on History of Banking, February 5, 2009
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II (Hardcover)
Murray was a free market, gold-backed money economist who makes persuasive arguments for his position. This system would, in a perfect world, be a good means of trade and would probably keep extremes of wealth in check. The logistics of changing to this system seem overwhelming. Nonetheless if one wants to know how the USA's banking system evolved this is a definitive read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews











Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
In this volume, Murray Rothbard has given us a comprehensive history of money and banking in the United States, from colonial times to World War II, the first to explicitly use the interpretive framework of Austrian monetary theory. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
interwar years, monetary history, international monetary system, greenback era, financial elites, monetary reconstruction, independent treasury system, genuine gold standard, monetary imperialism, reserve city banks, bank reformers, bank credit inflation, prewar par, fractional silver coins, export depression, monetary nationalism, inflationist policy, undervalued gold, inflated notes, pyramid ratio, monetary convention, new economic historians, silver agitation, overvalued pound, mint ratio
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, World War, New York, The Colonial Era, New Deal, Federal Reserve, Great Britain, Bank of England, History of Money, House of Morgan, Wall Street, Benjamin Strong, New England, America's Great Depression, Civil War, The Gold-Exchange Standard, Bank of France, Parker Willis, Eugene Meyer, Gresham's Law, Montagu Norman, Bretton Woods, President Hoover, Jay Cooke, President Roosevelt
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:




What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...



Look for Similar Items by Category