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From primitive man's cowrie shells to the electronic cash card, from the markets of Timbuktu to the New York Stock Exchange, "The History of Money" explores how money and the myriad forms of exchange have affected humanity, and how they will continue to shape all aspects of our lives--economic, political, and personal National publicity .

Anthropologist Weatherford (Savages and Civilization) has written an interesting and informative book about money, a subject often treated in a dry-as-dust technical manner. Money, according to Weatherford, has experienced three revolutions: the first, with the invention of metallic coins (gold, silver) 3000 years ago; the second, the development of paper money (now the most prevalent form of money) in Renaissance Italy; and today, on the cusp of the 21st century, the rise of electronic money (the all-purpose electronic cash card), which, he believes, will radically change the international economy. Along the way, Weatherford traces the rise of banking systems and other financial institutions and shows how national governments are playing a dominant role in managing the money supply. There is much peripheral but fascinating material in this anecdotal account. - From Library Journal

Jack Weatherford

Professor Jack Weatherford is a cultural anthropologist who has been teaching Anthropology at Macalester since 1983. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1967, with a B.A in Political Science followed by a M.A. in Sociology in 1972. He also received a M.A in Anthropology in 1973 and a Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. He went on to post-doctoral work in the Institute of Policy Sciences at Duke University.

Dr. Weatherford has worked with contemporary groups in places such as Bolivia and the Amazon with emphasis on the role of tribal people in world history. In recent years, he has concentrated on the Mongols. His book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern Worldwas an international best seller published in more than twenty languages. In 2007 President Enkhbayar of Mongolia awarded him the Order of the Polar Star, Mongolia’s highest national award, in recognition of his contribution to Mongolian culture. His most recent work, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, is the first book written on the daughters of Genghis Khan.

His earlier book The History of Money was a selection of the Conservative Book-of-the-Month Club, and Charles Schwab wrote that "this is the book to read!" Other books include Savages and Civilization: Who Will Survive? (1994) on the contemporary clash of world cultures; Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World (1988); and Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America (1991). Dr. Weatherford's books have won the Minnesota Book Award in 1989, 1992, and 2005. He also received the 1992 Anthropology in the Media Award from the American Anthropological Association, and he received the 1994 Mass Media Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.