Few things define the destiny of humanity like money, and David McWilliams’ global history begins with clay tablets and ends with cryptocurrency. His book follows money’s shape-shifting path from ancient accounting and the first borrowers to the rise of empires, capitalism and digital revolutions.
McWilliams’s storytelling features characters like Queen Elizabeth I, King Midas and John Law, mingling with everyday savers and schemers whose ingenuity and folly rewrote history. At its core, the story of money is about trust and McWilliams shows how each crisis, invention and innovation challenged (and sometimes broke) civilization’s faith in itself.
Through memorable anecdotes, artistic flair and sharp humor, this podcast explores money’s power as our ultimate social technology.
