The History of Money - Simon Middleton, The Great Courses

Written by Simon Middleton, The Great Courses
Read by Simon Middleton
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
Release date: 10-30-25

Few concepts are as essential yet elusive as money. We use it every day, but rarely pause to ask what it really is, why it takes the forms it does, or how it achieves and retains value, and slowly—or quickly—loses it. “Money makes the world go round,” goes one saying. But, at times, it makes the world go crazy, too!

Therefore, it’s vital to understand money and how it works. The History of Money immerses you in this fascinating subject in 18 half-hour lectures taught by moneyman of letters Simon Middleton, Associate Professor of History at the College of William & Mary and an expert on American economic history. Professor Middleton follows money’s evolution across the centuries—from philosophers and rulers to swindlers and reformers, from market panics to multinational intrigues.

He opens with clay tokens and early credit systems. Then, he moves through Roman coinage and medieval banking and shows how new ways of creating and controlling money fueled empires and sparked revolutions. Along the way, you meet remarkable figures—among them John Law, Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman—who helped reshape the way we understand money’s possibilities and dangers.

The American Revolution may be remembered for its ideals, but its spark was financial—namely, British taxes, which were regarded by the colonies as punitive. And the subsequent history of the US has been punctuated by money disputes at every turn—from the controversy over the Bank of the United States during the Jackson administration, to the banking wizardry required to pay for the Civil War, to the Great Depression and more recent financial crises. Cryptocurrency is only the latest chapter in this long history—a reminder that debates over money are never just about currency, but about power, trust, speculation, and the shape of society itself.