Product Description

Will the sun set on the greatest currency in the history of the world?

For decades the dollar has been the undisputed champ. It’s not only the currency of America but much of the world as well, the fuel of global prosperity. As the superengine of the world’s only superpower, it’s accepted everywhere. When an Asian company trades with South America, those transactions are done in dollars, the currency of international business.

But for how much longer? Economists fear America is digging a hole with an economy based on massive borrowing and huge deficits that cloud the dollar’s future. Will the buck be eclipsed by the euro or even China’s renminbi? Should Americans worry when the value of the mighty U.S. dollar sinks to par with the Canadian “loonie”?

Craig Karmin’s in-depth “biography” of the dollar explores these issues. It also examines the green-back’s history, allure, and unique role as a catalyst for globalization, and how the American buck became so almighty that $ became perhaps the most powerful symbol on earth.

Biography of the Dollar explores every aspect of its subject: the power of the Federal Reserve, the inner sanctums of foreign central banks that stockpile the currency, and the little-known circles of foreign exchange traders that determine a currency’s worth. It traces the dollar’s ascendancy, including one incredibly important duck-hunting trip and the world-changing Bretton Woods Conference.

With its watermark, color-shifting inks, and a presidential portrait that glows under ultraviolet light, the dollar has obsessed foreign governments, some of which have tried to counterfeit it. Even Saddam Hussein, who insisted on being paid in euros for oil, had $750,000 in hundred-dollar bills when captured. Yet if a worldwide currency has enabled a global economy to flourish, it’s also allowed the United States to owe unbelievable, shocking amounts of money—paying $1 million for every man, woman, and child every single day just in interest on foreign debt; that’s raised concerns that the dollar standard may not be sustainable.

Any threat to the dollar’s privileged status would do much more than hurt American pride. It would mean U.S. companies and citizens would not be able to borrow at the low rates they have become accustomed to. The dollar’s demise would impact the rest of the world, too, boosting the costs of trade and investment if no other currency was able to play the same crucial role. Ultimately the dollar system may weaken, but it should endure—a while longer, at least; it’s in few people’s interest to see it fail, and there is still no credible alternative.

Biography of the Dollar is must reading for anyone who wants to understand what truly makes the world go ’round—and whether it will continue to spin the way we want it to.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22785 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-26
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this colorful but sometimes superficial survey of the history and present role of the U.S. dollar, Wall Street Journal reporter Karmin tackles the complex dynamics that have placed American currency at the top of the global economy and the forces that now threaten its position there. In six loosely linked chapters—one offers a peek inside a currency-trading hedge fund, while another takes readers to Ecuador, which in 2000 abandoned its own currency and adopted the dollar as its only legal tender—Karmin examines the dollar's unprecedented role as the first truly global currency that is trusted and accepted around the world, a phenomenon based on little more than faith in the U.S. government and the idea of America. The book is studded with interesting trivia, especially in a chapter about the Department of Engraving and Printing, which produces $529 million in banknotes every day and once printed counterfeit Cuban pesos as part of a government plan to destabilize Castro's regime, but Karmin occasionally sacrifices depth and explication in order to maintain the book's fast pace and glib tone. It's a fun read, but doesn't add up to more than the sum of its disparate parts. (Feb. 26)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"For decades the dollar has reigned supreme, so much so that many take it as part of the natural order. But we're in an era of rapid change and the dollar is not immune. Craig Karmin's Biography of the Dollar is an indispensable guide to understanding the way both the U.S. and the world economies work and the dollar's role in keeping the economic skids greased. Karmin's great skill is his ability to take what in lesser hands would seem like complex and opaque ideas and make them transparent, understandable and relevant, whether you are an entrepreneur, work in a Fortune 500 company or simply trying to understand what in the world is going on."
—Ram Charan, author of Know-How and co-author of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

"After 50 pages, I was able to hold my own discussing currency trading with a vice president at JP Morgan Chase. This is an incredible book that should be required reading for anyone whose future depends on understanding how the dollar is valued and manipulated. Whether you work in finance, travel internationally, or simply haven't been taught why the dollar rises or falls in relation to other currencies, read Biography of the Dollar now—or suffer the consequences."
—Timothy Ferriss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek

About the Author
CRAIG KARMIN is a reporter for the “Money and Investing” section of The Wall Street Journal, covering international markets and foreign exchange. He has appeared on CNN and CNBC, and his work has also been published in Barron’s, The New Republic, and Newsweek International.

Customer Reviews

Tell Tale of the Taler
One interesting bit of information I had found during my searches in the Internet about money was how Iraq in the year 2000 had changed the denomination with which it traded oil: from the U.S. dollar to the euro. At that point in history, I wondered if Iraq's leadership had sealed its fate long before 9/11 attacks happened. Alan Greenspan, in his recent autobiography, concedes the cause of the Iraq war is really oil, most of which is traded using the dollar. Craig Karmin, in his book, "Biography Of The Dollar" confirms Iraq's fateful decision, but makes little mention of the Iraq war and its causes. He does, however, strongly suggest how the most important events in the world can be traced back to the movers and the movement of currency, the dollar in particular.

Currency Exchange is a lot like fishing in a three-trillion-dollar pond...in a single day, writes Karmin. He takes us through one day in the life of Jeff Weiser, whose life is money; not as a means but an end: trading it day and night. Karmin then takes us through the 128 years old hallow halls of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where money is made. This is one place where garbage is not rolled down to the roadside to be picked up by Waste Management. That garbage is BEP's weakest point: Money that wasn't deemed "perfect" and therefore has to be discarded. Somebody has to destroy that imperfect money, yet "how can you tell if something is destroyed?" asks an official of the BEP. Numerous people who worked for the BEP had abused their position. Some had used money that had neither the serial number nor the Federal Reserve seal on it. Others were more insidious. Karmin writes about several such stories in detail in fast read. He also discusses the way countries use counterfeit as a strategic ploy to attack other countries. For this reason, by virtue of the sophistication and technology that is in the dollar, one holds a Fort Knox in his palm.

interesting read
This book is very entertaining and informative, even if (or perhaps, because) it doesn't go into the finer details. Many of us took for granted the power of the 'buck' around the world, but now that it's in decline, we're starting to notice ! The book gives some insight into how the dollar achieved it's unique status as the currency of international trade, how the relative value of the dollar affects other countries, and vice-versa.
The book is also thought-provoking, and I'm now thinking about different ways to protect and grow my retirement savings. A worthwhile read.

Good book; quick read; a bit repetitive
I think that I've probably indicated my impression of the book in my review title.

If you still think that the dollar will remain mighty forever, and will be the world's reserve currency forever -- then read this book.

If you still don't appreciate what "get out of jail free" cards we (as Americans) have received as a side effect of the dollar's global use -- then read this book.

Be prepared for some repetition; it could have used a more aggressive editor.