A searing study of how the Spanish conquistadors introduced conflict for the sake of wealth shows that money and battle remain inseparable ... Few stones are left unlifted in this study, the sub-title of which gives every clue as to its ambition
Independent
Here is a book that explores the financial cost of war, rather than the human ... Read more... Kwarteng is thorough and insightful, weaving a narrative that transports the reader convincingly through time and place
Evening Standard
As befits a highly intelligent man, the author describes these complex issues in an eminently digestible way ... Has he foretold the next catastrophe?
Standpoint
A complicated story well told, from which financial lessons emerge naturally without Kwarteng finding it necessary to bludgeon the reader with his message
Financial Times
A former financial analyst with an impeccable academic track record ... Aggressively intellectual ... An exciting political thinker
Sunday Times
A meaty, thoughtful and well-written book
Literary Review
Absorbing history of humankind’s most enduring preoccupations – war and gold ... A fascinating, lucid and serious history of money, from the discovery of the wealth of the Americans to the present financial crisis
The Times
Enormously entertaining ... turns the evolution of money of the past 500 years into a rollicking narrative ... His book is so engagingly written that readers of all political persuasions should enjoy it
Sunday Times
This exhaustive and convincingly argued history of money comes from an author whose day job is to sit in the House of Commons ... He certainly understands the forces and the mistakes that have led to that destabilisation
Observer
This 500-year study of how cash and gold have affected high politics makes for surprisingly compelling reading
The Times Culture
Show Less