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Stephen Mihm

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A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States Paperback – May 1, 2009

by Stephen Mihm (Author)

4.5 68 ratings

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Listen to a short interview with Stephen MihmHost: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane

Few of us question the slips of green paper that come and go in our purses, pockets, and wallets. Yet confidence in the money supply is a recent phenomenon: prior to the Civil War, the United States did not have a single, national currency. Instead, countless banks issued paper money in a bewildering variety of denominations and designs--more than ten thousand different kinds by 1860. Counterfeiters flourished amid this anarchy, putting vast quantities of bogus bills into circulation.

Their success, Stephen Mihm reveals, is more than an entertaining tale of criminal enterprise: it is the story of the rise of a country defined by a freewheeling brand of capitalism over which the federal government exercised little control. It was an era when responsibility for the country's currency remained in the hands of capitalists for whom "making money" was as much a literal as a figurative undertaking.

Mihm's witty tale brims with colorful characters: shady bankers, corrupt cops, charismatic criminals, and brilliant engravers. Based on prodigious research, it ranges far and wide, from New York City's criminal underworld to the gold fields of California and the battlefields of the Civil War. We learn how the federal government issued greenbacks for the first time and began dismantling the older monetary system and the counterfeit economy it sustained.

A Nation of Counterfeiters is a trailblazing work of history, one that casts the country's capitalist roots in a startling new light. Readers will recognize the same get-rich-quick spirit that lives on in the speculative bubbles and confidence games of the twenty-first century.

Print length

474 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard University Press
Publication date

May 1, 2009
Dimensions

6 x 1.19 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0674032446
ISBN-13

978-0674032446
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Mihm brings to teeming life a world most Americans never knew existed, a world in which every single purchase was inflected with an additional layer of anxiety about the very currency in which the purchase was to be transacted. Written with exceptional intelligence and bracing wit, A Nation of Counterfeiters is fresh, fascinating and altogether original.”―Michael Zuckerman, University of Pennsylvania

“A meticulous and imaginative reconstruction of an entire counterfeit economy that intersected and overlapped with the 'legitimate' economy. A Nation of Counterfeiters is marvelous and unusual history. There really is nothing like it in the literature.”―Bruce H. Mann, Harvard Law School

“Stephen Mihm's elegant study demonstrates that 'making money' once had a more literal meaning, when thousands of banks printed their own currency notes and numerous counterfeiters profitably imitated them. Mihm offers an absorbing and enlightening history of the complex relations between money, national stability, and the forging of American character.”―Richard Sylla, New York University

“With imaginative research and crystalline prose, Stephen Mihm casts unprecedented light on the confidence games at the heart of early American capitalism. He also introduces us to an irresistible cast of characters, whose brazen exploits provide a new frame for understanding nineteenth century economic debate. A Nation of Counterfeiters is a brilliant synthesis of business and cultural history. This is a book to take seriously.”―Jackson Lears, author of Something for Nothing: Luck in America

“Mihm vividly and entertainingly describes the muddled and often fraudulent economy of pre-greenback America: those freewheeling, pre–Civil War days when the federal government not only did not print paper money but likewise did not bother to regulate those regional banks that did.”―Publishers Weekly

“Marvelously entertaining...There are enough shifty characters and bizarre incidents in here to outfit a hundred novels.”―Roger K. Miller, Denver Post

“Mihm's colorful...account of our early economic history follows a bedraggled cast of con artists, engravers, and gangsters who fueled the Republic's nascent capitalist endeavors with illicit currency. From the Vermont woodlands to the jostling thoroughfares of Manhattan, this cat-and-mouse tale of subterfuge and deceit culminates in the birth of the Federal Reserve and a true national currency. It's a story that in many ways mirrors the country's ascendance from a rangy colonial outpost to an unrivaled economic power.”―Gabriel Sherman, Conde Nast Portfolio

“[A] revelatory, entertaining book.”―New Yorker

“This is a fun book...Mihm's creative account of the early American economy shines, spotlighting the on-the-edge inventiveness, and over-the-edge cons, that have made the United States so rich in risk, reward and redemption.”―Stephen Kotkin, New York Times

“A brilliant description of a time in American history that seems at once distant and familiar. Mihm's book is a lucid history of counterfeiting in antebellum America, that dark art's golden age, so to speak.”―Steve Fraser, The Nation

“Between the Revolutionary era, when the Continental was America's currency, and the Civil War, which brought us the greenback, the U.S. had no national paper currency. Chartered banks and their privately issued notes proliferated. The babel of competing bills created fertile ground for counterfeits, which sprang up like mushrooms. By the 1850s, thousands of different breeds of paper passed as American money. In A Nation of Counterfeiters, Stephen Mihm's relentless sleuthing and lively prose reanimate a world in which every dollar had to be carefully read. This rogues gallery of forgers, coinshavers and engravers-gone-bad holds up a funhouse mirror to the entrepreneurial face of American money-making.”―Jane Kamensky, Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Stephen Mihm is Associate Professor of History at the University of Georgia.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press (May 1, 2009)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 474 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674032446
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674032446
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.19 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #609,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #406 in Banks & Banking (Books)
- #409 in Money & Monetary Policy (Books)
- #1,367 in Economic History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 68 ratings

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Mithradates

History as comedy

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2023

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This account of capitalism in the early USA is frequently laugh-out-loud funny. Between the antics of the "legitimate" banks and the counterfeiters, it's not always clear which team was worse, but it's amazing that the country survived as long as it did before the Federal government stepped in to regulate the mess.

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F. E. Smith

They Don't Teach This in Economics 101

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

Wonderful writing. I'm very selective about what I read based on the author's writing skill. This passed all my tests for engaging writing. Then, there is the material. Obviously heavily researched into an area I don't think I've ever heard discussed--the parallel growth of capitalism and counterfeiting. The author makes a persuasive case for his thesis that counterfeiting made capitalism in the US possible. Counterfeiters created the money supply that fueled economic growth. And, those are just the illegal counterfeiters. "Legal" banks kept popping up to print their own paper money, and many of these banks were less stable than the counterfeiters. In fact, although counterfeiters were often pursued and from time to time put on trial, they generally were found not guilty based on their lawyers claims that you can't falsify bills that have no standing in the first place. Anyone who wants to think hard about what faith in money, and in banking, means will find this book to be a brain shifting experience.

6 people found this helpful

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Gnosis

Not an academic text!

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2013

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In doing some research for a paper I came across this book that was written in a much more interesting way than all those academic papers I had to read :) and lots of good, fun information.

One person found this helpful

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Z Dawit

fantastic look at the early years of the republic

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2022

Verified Purchase

19th century America was a tough place to do business in, hundreds of banks, going in and out of business all with their own currency, as many forgers and forgeries such that it was impossible to verify if any given note was real or fake. This is an in-depth look at the different players of the era and how it eventually ended and gave way into the modern age of unitary currency and a regulated macroeconomy. The kindle version does not have the images of the print so that was a bit disappointing as I would have appreciated the pictures of old currency but Highly recommend.

One person found this helpful

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T. Dafforn

Good Company

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2022

Verified Purchase

The book arrived quickly and was in the condition advertised

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Great book-quick delivery-good condition, would buy from this seller again !

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MB in Calif

Excellent reference, but not for casual, fun reading

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2015

Verified Purchase

The book is a great, well-documented history mostly about paper currency in the US before the Civil War. However, the quest for inclusiveness and completeness makes it seem repetitive and tedious. The best part is near the end which covers the time period just prior to, during and after the Civil War. The section on Jackson's war on the Second US Bank was also interesting. In the bulk though, the endless begats and interrelationships of counterfeiters soon become boring. A book half its length would have been more readable.

5 people found this helpful

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Cathy A.

Well-written and informative

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2013

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Mihm has written an eye-opening book. My only regret is that the Kindle version does't contain the illustrations in the paper version; that ought to be corrected.

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Noëlle

une description des manipulations fianancières du dollar

Reviewed in France on June 24, 2013

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Un historique des grandes manœuvres des financiers américains pour jouer avec le cours du dollar à leur avantage , à lire et à méditer dans le contexte actuel des conflits avec l'euro, et avec les monnaies asiatiques

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