The History of Money: A Story of Humanity

Economist David McWilliams traces the relationship between humans and money across global history, from clay tablets in Mesopotamia to cryptocurrency in Silicon Valley. He argues that money has fundamentally shaped human evolution and redirected the course of planetary history more thoroughly than any other innovation. McWilliams demonstrates that money is central to civilization across political, artistic, and social dimensions. It defines relationships between workers and employers, buyers and sellers, merchants and producers. Money also structures bonds between the governed and governors, states and citizens. It motivates achievement, invention, and risk-taking while also enabling greed, envy, hatred, violence, and colonialism. The book travels across the world—from ancient Babylon to the Silk Road, Marrakech markets, and Wall Street—introducing innovators, emperors, frauds, and speculators who disrupted society and transformed how people live. The work includes a foreword by Michael Lewis.