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"For Nature herself makes it plain, I think, that gold is produced with toil, is guarded with difficulty, is most eagerly sought for, and enjoyed with mixed pleasure and pain." - Diodorus Siculus, 1st Century BC Greek Scholar

With today's volatile economic conditions, the question of gold is more pertinent than ever. The world history of gold, from ancient times to the modern-day, has been a history of horrible and unspeakable acts that mankind has committed to obtain it, but also a history of beautiful art and jewelry, sublime religious depictions, magnificent palaces and temples, and a symbol of civilization's greatness and wealth. Gold has inspired and propelled up most of the world's greatest civilizations and then drove them into the ground, leaving nothing behind but gold-filled tombs and temples for their ancestors to rob and excavate. Gold's beauty has inspired mankind to paint, mold, shape, and form its very own gods and, at the same time, forsake those very gods in a frenzy of conquest, pillage, and murder. As if it were pulling the strings in the background, gold has played a hidden role in many well-known world historical events. Gold has motivated wars, built-up civilizations, and driven numerous adventurers into reckless quests in its pursuit. The pursuit of gold has always drawn a thin line between success and disaster. Few that have experienced gold's success have not experienced its downfall as well. Yet many more have experienced its downfall without ever experiencing its success. Despite this, mankind always has, and always will, continue to gamble its fortunes on gold. The immortal words that King Ferdinand relayed to Christopher Columbus provide a sufficient answer to explain why: "Get gold, humanely if possible, but at all costs, get gold."

This book is definitely a must read for those who are students of civilization and history. It shows us that all that glitters is not gold. It talks about the power of gold to build civilizations and yet at the same time destroy them. This book lays out how gold has created unimaginable wealth and at the same time has sown the seeds of destruction by encouraging short term thinking and destroying the morals that support any civilization. This book points out that what we are currently seeing with the destruction of many irreplaceable parts of the environment to the detriment of all of our futures, is history repeating itself, as this has happened time again since the times of the earliest civilizations in Egypt. This book is a definite must read for any one that wants to understand how civilizations are created and destroyed.

Adam Wasserman

Adam Wasserman is a native resident of Sarasota, Florida. Inspired by the People’s History series and other critical historical texts, he has determined to base his writing career on revisionist history, social change, and global issues inflicting the world today.

After reading numerous People’s History renditions, Adam decided to derive a comprehensive, revisionist history of where he was born and raised. People’s History is based on largely ignored primary sources and narratives to weave together a picture of how common people experienced and influenced history, rather than leaders or governments.

Wasserman began applying this revolutionary concept of history to his home state of Florida, completing and self-releasing A People’s History of Florida 1513-1876: How Africans, Seminoles, Women, and Lower Class Whites Shaped the Sunshine State. A People’s History of Florida continues the People’s History “approach,” formatting “history from below” through mostly ignored primary sources and narratives. While focusing primarily on revisionist history, social issues, and contemporary politics, Wasserman’s planned catalogue could be called nothing but diverse.

He is currently in the process of completing Two Sides to the Coin: A History of Gold, which will narrate the social and economic history of gold, along with its importance and implications for investors and everyday people in the current economic recession. He has several works set for the future, including A People’s History of Florida 1877 to the Present, Fighting Modern Day Slavery: The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and a narrative memoir of a Holocaust survivor.

Личен сайт: http://www.adamwasserman.org/