The Almighty Dollar

A sweeping, centuries-long history of the dollar as it exchanged hands, forced the restructuring of governments, and ascended to an all-powerful symbol of American hegemony

For almost two centuries, the United States has flourished as an economic superpower, and its success has rested largely on what is arguably the most recognizable symbol of American wealth: the dollar. Financial historians typically trace the currency's origins to the printed dollars of the Continental Congress of 1777 or the silverdollars of the Mint Act of 1792. But America did not invent the dollar; it merely surrendered to it.

In The Almighty Dollar, award-winning financial journalist Brendan Greeley sets out on a remarkable and delightfully thorough treasure hunt for the true origins of the dollar. He propels readers to the heart of the mystery behind green bills, silver dollars, and copper menu monnaie. As he traces a pathway across time and place, Greeley upends assumptions about global currency, painting a captivatingly complex and refreshingly human portrait of how the dollar has come to be: from sixteenth-century investors shipping silver pennies across the Atlantic to pay miners in Bohemia to the acute desperation that shrouded America during the Civil War, when the federal government issued greenbacks—emergency paper currency—to ease the country’s economic burdens. At every turn, Greeley’s reporting vividly illustrates that just as important as the political decisions that control money are the everyday people who use it.

Singular in its breadth, meticulously researched, and filled with personal stories of people past and present—from monarchs and politicians to merchants and beggars—who have made money what it is today, The Almighty Dollar is an essential account of the most formidable form of currency in the history of the world.