Incorporating myth, history and contemporary investigation, Bernstein tells the story of how human beings have become intoxicated, obsessed, enriched, impoverished, humbled and proud for the sake of gold. From the past to the future, Bernstein's portrayal of gold is intimately linked to the character of humankind.
Autorentext
PETER L. BERNSTEIN combines the zest of a historian with the meticulous analytical powers of an economist. He is the author of seven books in economics and finance, including the best-selling Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk and Capital Ideas: The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street. He is also President of Peter L. Bernstein, Inc., an economic consultancy to institutional investors, which he founded in 1973 after many years of managing billions of dollars in individual and institutional portfolios. He has lectured widely throughout the U.S. and globally and has received the highest honours from his peers in the investment profession.
Klappentext
In this lavishly illustrated work Peter L. Bernstein tells the story of one of mankind's most intoxicating obsessions: gold. It has been both an inspiration and a destroyer, determined the fate of kings and emperors, inspired the most beautiful works of art, provoked extreme cruelty and driven men to endure intense hardship. From the ancient fascination of Moses and Midas through the gold rush, to modern financiers, gold has led many of its most eager and proud possessors to a tragic end. The gold they thought they possessed came to possess them. Such is the power gold.
Far more than a tale of romantic myths, daring explorations and the history of money and power struggles, The Power of Gold suggests that the true significance of this infamous element may lie in the timeless passions it continues to evoke and what this reveals about ourselves.
Inhalt
Prologue: The Supreme Possession.
1. Get Gold at All Hazards.
2. Midas's Wish and the Creatures of Pure Chance.
3. Darius's Bathtub and the Cackling of the Geese.
4. The Symbol and the Faith.
5. Gold, Salt and the Blessed Town.
6. The Legacy of Eoba, Babba and Udd.
7. The Great Chain Reaction.
8. The Disintegrating Age and the Kings' Ransoms.
9. The Sacred Thirst.
10. The Fatal Poison and Private Money.
11. The Asian Necropolis and Hien Tsung's Inadvertent Innovation.
12. The Great Recoinage and the Last of the Magicians.
13. The True Doctrine and the Great Evil.
14. The New Mistress and the Cursed Discovery.
15. Strength and Failure.
16. Breaking the Golden Fetters.
17. Tearing Loos e the Golden Anchor.
Bibliography.
Index.