AMIDST THE WRECKAGE OF FINANCIAL RUIN, PEOPLE ARE LEFT PUZZLING ABOUT HOW IT HAPPENED. WHERE DID ALL THE PROBLEMS BEGIN?
For the answer, Jack Cashill, a journalist as shrewd as he is seasoned, looks past the headlines and deep into pages of history and comes back with the goods. From Plato to payday loans, from Aristotle to AIG, from Shakespeare to the Salomon Brothers, from the Medici to Bernie Madoff?in Popes and Bankers Jack Cashill unfurls a fascinating story of credit and debt, usury and “the sordid love of gain.”
With a dizzying cast of characters, including church officials, gutter loan sharks, and even the Knights Templar, Cashill traces the creative tension between “pious restraint” and “economic ambition” through the annals of human history and illuminates both the dark corners of our past and the dusty corners of our billfolds.
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Popes and Bankers, expect the unexpected One of the things Mr. Cashill is known for is illuminating the true circumstances around events which others have spun to produce a desired outcome. Reading his retelling of these stories has the effect of upending much of what you thought you knew.In this particular book he takes the time period from Aristotle to present day and successfully strings together the intriguing stories into a narrative that was a joy to read.What I found particularly interesting were the historical…
A great read, but quite an ax to grind The writing here is sharp and witty, with almost every paragraph ending in some sort of a zinger, often connecting ancient history to some current event. And the scope and depth of the cultural history included here is astonishing, from a synopsis of The Inferno and The Merchant of Venice to paraphrases of the latest financial best-sellers, with some Flannery O’Connor thrown in for good measure. The writer is obviously a talented and erudite man.The first thing that puzzled me,…
Intriguing…but partial. This is an interesting and fast paced romp through the world of economics. You could never use this book as reference should you be writing a report on the history of money however. It does not start as much but definitely leans heavily towards a biased prospective of non-governmental regulation and conservative values. I can’t imagine the author is anything but a libertarian. There is nothing wrong with that (depending on whom you ask anyway) but it definitely leans very heavily in that…