The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession

Read The Power of Gold: The History of an Obsession Storyline:

"[T]he quest for gold" has been "gluttonous," says Bernstein, tracing
the metal's impact on human myth and history: gold has inspired art,
battles, conquests and discoveries, including Columbus's trip to the New
World, where he hoped to secure enough gold to buy back the Holy
Sepulcher from the Muslims. Bernstein makes clear the metal's virtues:
it's so malleable that one ounce can be stretched into a 50-foot wire or
pounded into 100 square feet, and it lasts forever (4,500-year-old
Egyptian dental work, he notes, is good enough for today's mouths).
Bernstein's gift for storytellingAwith just the right touch of acerbic
wit (on the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece, he summarizes, "The
story does not have a happy ending, because Jason was a compulsive
social climber")Aand his presentation of the paradox of how and why such
a soft and simple metal has been afforded such value help make this
work a winning account of human obsession, comprehensive, entertaining
and enlightening. A knowledge of economics might help during the last
third of the book, when Bernstein moves from ancient times to modern day
and describes the economic chaos that followed WWI. By then gold was no
longer the domain of legend; it had become a commodity, the standard
against which powerful nations measure their wealth. But Bernstein,
author of the bestselling Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of
Risk, livens up his intricate economic discussion with tales such as the
one about the Harvard Business School professor who got into trouble
with his dean for withdrawing his gold from the Harvard Trust Company
during a gold standard-related panic in 1933. As the title promises,
Bernstein does deliver a page-turning history of the not-so-heavy metal
and its influence on people through the ages. $250,000 ad/promo; first
serial to Worth. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.