Ebook The Story of Silver How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World William L Silber 9780691175386 Books
Download As PDF : The Story of Silver How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World William L Silber 9780691175386 Books
How silver influenced two hundred years of world history, and why it matters today
This is the story of silver’s transformation from soft money during the nineteenth century to hard asset today, and how manipulations of the white metal by American president Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1930s and by the richest man in the world, Texas oil baron Nelson Bunker Hunt, during the 1970s altered the course of American and world history. FDR pumped up the price of silver to help jump start the U.S. economy during the Great Depression, but this move weakened China, which was then on the silver standard, and facilitated Japan’s rise to power before World War II. Bunker Hunt went on a silver-buying spree during the 1970s to protect himself against inflation and triggered a financial crisis that left him bankrupt.
Silver has been the preferred shelter against government defaults, political instability, and inflation for most people in the world because it is cheaper than gold. The white metal has been the place to hide when conventional investments sour, but it has also seduced sophisticated investors throughout the ages like a siren. This book explains how powerful figures, up to and including Warren Buffett, have come under silver’s thrall, and how its history guides economic and political decisions in the twenty-first century.
Ebook The Story of Silver How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World William L Silber 9780691175386 Books
"I always enjoy creative perspectives on history and this book does not disappoint. Silber tells the story of silver and events involved around it. He starts from the beginning of the American republic with various opinions on the metal from people such as Alexander Hamilton, continues through William Jennings Bryan famous speech at the Democratic National Convention, spends a lot of time with the Hunts (as would be expected) and ends with current prognostications, including Warren Buffett's venture into the metal.
He explains silver's unique role as both a metal used for practical purposes as well as a store of value. Historically this led a few times to people exchanging their silver items for cash as the price increased, further increasing the price. While everyone is familiar with the metal, this book will surprise the reader with how many significant events on the world stage involved the metal.
The most interesting part of the book is the subject most people probably first think of when seeing this book- the Hunt brothers and their fascination with the metal. I never knew too much about the episode, but always thought the Hunts were a wealthy oil family and the brothers tried to corner the market and ended up in bankruptcy. While this covers the gist of it, Silber provides many fascinating aspects of the story. I had no idea that the government basically changed the rules midstream in order to fight off the buying frenzy and the role the government had in their bankruptcy.
Highly recommend this easy read on a common topic presented in a unique manner."
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The Story of Silver How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World William L Silber 9780691175386 Books Reviews :
The Story of Silver How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World William L Silber 9780691175386 Books Reviews
- I read the same history books you did, which briefly touched upon the "Cross of Gold" of the late 1800's, the silver-versus-gold lobby, and the Great Depression confiscation of gold. I've lived though the disappearance of silver coins as we prepared to go to the moon and of course the scandal of the Hunt brothers cornering the silver market in the early 80's.
Most historical accounts are abbreviated gibberish, because the writers have no idea what they are writing about.
Alas, The Story of Silver not only is written by someone who knows what they are talking about, Mr. Silber also provides the historical context of what was going on. He adds just enough history and context to render each chapter to be a captivating episode in our nation's history.
I think a general reader will appreciate this book, although they might breeze through a few of the chapters that are of more interest to a silver bug. But for any current or ex coin collector, bullion investor, financial historian or even someone who likes history, this is worthwhile. I finished it in less than 3 days - that tells me it held my interest.
And sometime in the month after you read it, you will be able to drop the phrase, "The Crime of 1873" in a conversation with your banker friend(s), express shock they have no idea what you are referring to, and cleverly force them to buy drinks after your claim is google-verified . It's like a price rebate guarantee. What's not to like?
Final note, you will wonder why, if your old text books were so woefully inadequate regarding the "Cross of Gold" and Williams Jennings Bryant, then what else did they completely mangle? - Silver always seems to pale next to gold at best silver is a lining, but never a fever--and it is always, almost non-chalantly, at hand, either as currency or cutlery. And yet, it intersects our lives in peculiar ways. My father-in-law used to tell dramatic stories of inflation in China and my mother-in-law of how the imperial Japanese invaded their country; I remember my grandfather's stash of old silver dollars in his rural drugstore, and reading about silver (and the Hunt brothers) in the dark days of inflation in the late 1970s--not to mention learning about William Jennings Bryan historic crusade for stabilizing the US dollar. In this fascinating history, William Silber explains how one precious metal underlies all these events. Those with an interest in history or in commodities will find this book a great read and one that shows how following a subject, thoughtfully and with detail, from a particular frame of reference can open up new ways of seeing the world. Highly recommended.
- As a retired Foreign Service Officer, economist, and numismatist; I find Dr. Silber's book, The Story of Silver, fascinating and educational. It's reminiscent of an interdisciplinary approach to economics used by Walter Rostow used at UT Austin while I was a graduate student there several decades ago. In an age of fiat money, and now, even digital currency, one forgets that for a millennium and a half, gold and silver played a prominent role in the evolution of money as we know it today.
As economists, we often have a tendency to quantify things like supply and demand of a given commodity or service in an effort to find price equilibrium. Dr Silber shows us there is another dimension when it comes to the "white metal," the interplay of market forces with varied national interests, policy objectives, institutional machinations, and even personality clashes. As a retired Foreign Service Officer, with over 30 years experience in nine countries, I have an appreciation for the dynamics of these moving parts.
I am old enough to have witnessed the spiraling price movements of silver in the late 1970's and 2009 and the havoc it played on the numismatic community. The Story of Silver fills in a lot of historical cracks in the lore of silver these last two centuries. Written for the layman, the book is an easy read, laced with the occasional wry comment as the author navigates what could be a rather dull subject for many. If you really want to know what happened to silver and the role it played in our economy and history, this is the book to read. - I always enjoy creative perspectives on history and this book does not disappoint. Silber tells the story of silver and events involved around it. He starts from the beginning of the American republic with various opinions on the metal from people such as Alexander Hamilton, continues through William Jennings Bryan famous speech at the Democratic National Convention, spends a lot of time with the Hunts (as would be expected) and ends with current prognostications, including Warren Buffett's venture into the metal.
He explains silver's unique role as both a metal used for practical purposes as well as a store of value. Historically this led a few times to people exchanging their silver items for cash as the price increased, further increasing the price. While everyone is familiar with the metal, this book will surprise the reader with how many significant events on the world stage involved the metal.
The most interesting part of the book is the subject most people probably first think of when seeing this book- the Hunt brothers and their fascination with the metal. I never knew too much about the episode, but always thought the Hunts were a wealthy oil family and the brothers tried to corner the market and ended up in bankruptcy. While this covers the gist of it, Silber provides many fascinating aspects of the story. I had no idea that the government basically changed the rules midstream in order to fight off the buying frenzy and the role the government had in their bankruptcy.
Highly recommend this easy read on a common topic presented in a unique manner. - I've been in the precious metal business my whole career and thought I knew the history pretty well. But there were a number of eye-openers, especially the role of silver and US policy regarding China and WWII
