Blood and Money: War, Slavery, and the State

The rise of standardized, and readily accepted, money is often a confusing tale full of stops and starts. Generally, it is conceived that some of the first paper bills accepted as currency were in Europe during the late 1600s and that it slowly spread as the state consolidated its power and capitalist industries started to sprout up.

Professor David McNally takes a completely different view of the rise of money and how we went from exchanging goods for other goods to using coins and paper bills. He believes that a combination of slavery and its trade and war are the main reasons for the rise of a common currency that could be exchanged across borders. Sadly Professor McNally makes leaps of logic that often do not make sense and often feel like they are forced. Jumping from ancient Athens, Corinth, and other places into the ancient world. To England during the late 1500s really does not make much sense. Also by almost exclusively focusing on England during this time, McNally tends to ignore the rest of the world, sometimes giving them a few pages before going back to England. Never acknowledging that England was a third rate power with no navy. His argument falls flat and feels dull.