The History of Money: A Story of Humanity
by David McWilliams
View on GoodreadsMoney is a relationship as much as it's a tool. It sets the terms between you and your employer, you and whoever you're buying from, and you and your government, which makes its history a history of power. McWilliams tells it as a story, from Mesopotamian clay tablets through the Silk Road to Wall Street and crypto.
Core ideas
- The invention: Apart from fire, nothing else has shaped how people live as thoroughly, and few things are as poorly understood.
- A relationship, not a tool: Money defines the bond between worker and employer, and between citizen and state.
- Both directions: The same thing that unlocks creativity also funds greed, violence and colonialism.
Published2024
ISBN9781250408181
ReadAug 2026
