History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

America at Night: The True Story of Two Rogue CIA Operatives, Homeland Security Failures,Dirty Money, and a Plot to Steal the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election- by theFor

Average customer rating:

Excelent story and well written
Fiction Is Stranger Than Truth
criminals, no conspiracy
becomes weird
FASCINATING

America at Night: The True Story of Two Rogue CIA Operatives, Homeland Security Failures,Dirty Money, and a Plot to Steal the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election- by theFor
Larry J. Kolb
Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1594489009
Release Date: 2007-02-01

Book Description

The True Story of Two Master Criminals Aiming to Take America's Biggest Prize and Our Security Agencies' Systematic Inability to Stop Them by the Former Intelligence Agent Recruited to Foil Their Plan

Robert Sensi has worked for the CIA, the Republican National Committee, and, as cover, for Kuwait Airways and the Kuwaiti royal family. He has twice served time in federal prison for embezzlement and fraud. Richard Hirschfeld, originally recruited to the CIA by Sensi, boasts an equally illustrious past: in the seventies he duped investors out of millions of dollars, later allegedly stole a $12-million payoff from Ferdinand Marcos intended for Ronald Reagan, and came within a hairbreadth of conning the U.S. Senate out of $50 million.

When the Department of Homeland Security suspects that Sensi and Hirschfeld are at the center of an investigation involving money laundering and the funding of Al Qaeda-and when their supposedly comprehensive database turns up little to no information on either man-it takes onetime spy Larry Kolb to crack the case, ultimately orchestrating Hirschfeld's spectacular capture. But when Kolb begins to connect the dots, he realizes something even more sinister is afoot, and that he's on to the biggest possible con with the highest political stakes.

Customer Reviews:

Excelent story and well written.......2007-05-14

This book has some very interesting insight into a real story that depicts how some things work in this world... how someone can get all the way to the "kitchen" with the Bush's and be an outlaw. Very well written novel also! Only con would be some far fetched conspiracy theeories laid out at the beginning of the book and never proved during the book.

Fiction Is Stranger Than Truth.......2007-04-23

I'm sure most of what Mr. Kolb says is true about Hirschfeld and Sensi but I suspect he uses this capital to serve his ultimate goal -- to trash everything Republican. As a hit piece of this magnitude he is unconvincing. Ironically, if the picture Kolb has painted of these two con men is accurate and their abilitiy to use powerful figures is proven, then why is he not looking to find innocence in the many Republican politicians that seem to have been used? Why does he automatically see conspiracy on a wider scale within the GOP?

He seems to trust "The Gray Eminence" and other people he has actually talked to like Engin Yesil. John Kerry is a war hero (Bush a poseur). He uses the term neo-con as a perjorative. Wolfowitz, Rice et al are war mongers out of touch with what....the omniscient benevolence of the Kerry team? A balanced outing of the "facts" would have at least included some rebuttal. There is none. He says at the beginning he is non-partisan. Nice try.

He believes he is saving the world from evil. Has Kolb read Bill Sammon's book "At Any Cost - How Al Gore Tried To Steal The Election"? How that egalitarian and progressive organization, the Chicago Daley Machine was called in as a fixer for the Florida recount? There is no paucity of evil in America. Why be seletive?

The fact is that both parties have operatives. Both parties are involved in scullduggery. And because of the hightened political climate both parties have a stake in deeming the other an enemy. I think the day of a mere advisarial relationship between left and right is over.

We all pick sides. Kolb is on the Democratic team.

criminals, no conspiracy.......2007-03-19

An entertaining book, as long as you don't believe the far-fetched conspiracy theories. The author takes a fact here, a factoid there, on and on and tries to put them together for a grand conspiracy. As far as I could tell, it's really just the story of some con men, talented and interesting though they were.

becomes weird.......2007-03-12

This started off as interesting, but I lost interest when he started writing page after page about Muhammud Ali as the greatest man who ever lived. Toward the end, the book became a reason to bash the right, although the author claims he isn't. Kold is a left wing partisan, and it shows. Too bad, as the books holds real promise.

FASCINATING .......2007-03-08

America at Night is one of the most riveting books I've read in a long while. I absolutely couldn't put it down. Not only is the story completely intriguing, but Kolb--unlike many true crime authors--can really write. The man is obviously a born storyteller. And in this case, the story he's telling happens to be true--which makes the book all the more fascinating. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in how politics really works in this country, or anyone that just enjoys a compulsive, compelling read.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

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America's money in the context of American culture

America's Money, America's Story
Richard G. Doty
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 087341618X

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America's money in the context of American culture.......1999-03-29

Do we really need another book on American numismatics? In the case of Richard Doty's new book, the answer is an enthusiastic yes.

Unlike other important histories such as Q. David Bowers, The History of United States Coinage, based on the Garrett collection, this book is about America's money, not just coins. Doty examines early forms of money such as wampum and barter objects, the great influence of Spanish colonialism, and local monetary forms during our own colonial period. What may surprise some coin collectors is the importance of paper money in our history, especially non-Federal issues through the Civil War. Private bank note issues and merchant scrip-"obsolete notes"-were a vital part of circulating money during a long period when U.S. and other coins were scarce. Doty examines how vignettes used on many of these notes represented real or ideal views of our society, our relationship with Native Americans, enslaved people, women, and national heroes. One of the nine chapters examines early paper money in detail-"Rag Times: The Era of the Private Bank Note (1789-1865)." Paper is also a major part of the significant changes to our money during the Civil War era ("Civil War and Money's Change"), when private bank notes were essentially taxed out of existence and replaced with U.S. paper money.

Throughout the book, Doty places money and monetary change in historical and cultural context. Our money evolved as our experience as a nation grew--money changed and stabilized (some might say fossilized) as we developed from a struggling nation into our modern superpower status.

Richard Doty is perhaps the preeminent U.S. numismatic scholar of the 20th century. A historian with academic credentials, the book's special claim is his historian's view of the evolution of American money. His writing style is eminently readable-he has a way with words, an ability to use the language that to this reviewer is more appealing than that of any other numismatic writer.

Running 248 pages (8 1/2 inches by 11 inches, softcover), America's Money -- America's Story is extensively indexed and includes more than 250 large-size photographs of everything from items traded during the pre-European settlement days to the coins and bills that have changed with America.

Chapters cover The Thirteen Colonies and Their Monies; The War for Independence and Its Aftermath; "Hard Money" and the Young Republic; "Rag" Times: The Era of the Private Bank Note; Gold!; Civil War and Money's Change; The Gilded Age; Isolation, Depression, Intervention; and Cold War and Beyond.

Rounding out America's Money -- America's Story is a section featuring an in-depth list of suggested reading material to help enthusiasts acquire even more knowledge of the history of America and its money.

"Regardless of time or place, any exchange medium must satisfy a number of requirements," the book says." If it does so, it is viable money, likely to remain in fashion; if it does not, it will soon be replaced by something else. To be money, an object must be durable. It must be practical, either directly or indirectly. It must be easily quantifiable. It must be of moderate scarcity, rare enough to carry an aura of desirability, plentiful enough so that everyone can see it and have a minimal chance of obtaining it. Finally, attractiveness, either for display or for other reasons, gives some potential trading objects an advantage over others--without being an absolute requirement for any of them.

Doty is curator of numismatics for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, where he is responsible for the national collections of U.S., Latin American, and medieval coinage, as well as U.S. and foreign paper money and foreign tokens. A former professor of U.S., Latin American, and world history, Doty is a numismatic scholar who has written five books and more than 100 articles concerning numismatics.

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Follow the Money?

Follow the money

A must-read for those wanting to understand campaign finance

The Money Men: The Real Story of Fund-raising's Influence on Political Power in America
Jeffrey Birnbaum
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Lobbyists: How Influence Peddlers Work Their Way in Washington

ASIN: 081293119X
Release Date: 2000-06-06

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Jeffrey Birnbaum subscribes to that old journalistic credo Follow the money. He has made a career out of investigating the role of money in politics, both as a beat reporter (first for The Wall Street Journal, and now at Fortune) and as an author (The Lobbyists). This book describes the men and women who give money to politicians and raise it for campaigns. Far from a dry tome about campaign-finance law, it's a page-turning narrative full of colorful characters and interesting anecdotes. As a D.C. insider once put it, the real scandal in Washington isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Or, in Birnbaum's words:

If you assume that campaign money is so distasteful that you don't want to hear any more about it, you're closing your mind to one of the most fundamental and most fascinating stories in American politics. It's okay to be outraged--more than okay. But it's wrong to be so disgusted that you don't want to read another word. You miss all the good parts that way.

Birnbaum intends to correct a few popular misconceptions about how Washington works: "It's wrong to think of [elected officials] sitting studiously through boring congressional hearings or making speeches to Rotary Club luncheons. Think of them, instead, in windowless offices grubbing for money almost every spare moment they get." Some may accuse the author of being unduly suspicious of money's place in political life, but then they haven't had what Birnbaum calls "The Moment"--"that instant when they finally realize that money plays too big a role in politics, way too big." He then describes how one of his sources, a press secretary for a Southern congressman, had his Moment: "The congressman pledged to vote to fund the aircraft in exchange for a VIP tour of the White House for twenty or thirty of his largest and most loyal campaign contributors."

The Money Men is crammed with unseemly stories like this, and Birnbaum is admirably bipartisan: he blames both Democrats and Republicans for creating the cesspool in which they live. "Something must be done," he writes.

Scandal after scandal has rocked the nation's capital. From overnights in the Lincoln bedroom to illegal foreign contributions from Asia and elsewhere, it is obvious that what was once a hunger for money by politicians has become a form of gluttony. Corporations, labor unions, narrow interest groups, and wealthy individuals are buying their way into our government at a pace that threatens to destroy the democracy that we all hold so dear.

Fans of Common Cause and John McCain's campaign-reform ideas will find much to admire on these pages, as will anyone who appreciates good reportage. --John J. Miller

Book Description

The real political campaigns in America begin with the money men.

If you assume that fund-raising is so distasteful that you don't want to hear any more about it, you are closing your mind to one of the most fundamental and fascinating stories in American politics, writes Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, author of The Money Men. For the past two decades, Birnbaum has followed the money in Washington, as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Time, and Fortune. In his Washington Post bestsellers, Showdown at Gucci Gulch and The Lobbyists, Birnbaum examined the forces that wield power in our capital and the subtle yet influential interplay between pressure groups and politicians. Now, Birnbaum takes us inside the world of the most elite, powerful, and little-known groups in politics: the fund-raisers and fund-givers who have an increasingly large say in the way our government works.

If you want to be taken seriously as a political candidate in America, you've got to start with money and the people who raise it. Until now, no one has taken as close a look at who these people are, what they want, and what they get in return for raising hundreds of millions of dollars. In The Money Men, Birnbaum takes us behind the scenes and into the mansions, banquet halls, and living rooms of the people raising the big bucks for presidential aspirants in Campaign 2000. He details the ritual mating dance of money that is rarely seen and is captivating to behold. Birnbaum also reveals which lobbying organizations are the most effective in advancing their agendas and how they do it.

For anyone interested in the state of democracy, the possibility for reform, and the strange art of political salesmanship, The Money Men is required reading.

Customer Reviews:

Follow the Money?.......2000-06-26

Reading this book is like following a car with a bent frame. The car seems to be going in a slightly direction than the wheels are carrying it. So much for following the money. The whole book is slightly off kilter.

The reader is confused because in the beginning because Brinbaum says the days of flagrant corruption are long gone, but then tells story after story of flagrant corruption. He says it is not what we think it is then cites numerous examples of corruption that are exactly what I think it is. Most to the tales told are from previously published stories the rest have the flavor of cocktail party chatter, or should I say fun raiser chatter. He names plenty of names, but is short on facts. The problem with the facts are that some of them are wrong. I will let the readers pick their own favorite error mine was him saying that Koch Industries was in the book wholesaling business. Koch is in lots of businesses, but none of them is the book business. The nearest connection was a jointly owned a refinery with Hank Ingram, whose family owned the Ingram books, but the Koch - Ingram business relationship ended in 1950. As an error, this is not a big one, but it makes you wonder about what else is in error. He refers to some studies, but falls to provide source information, so you can't check to see if he got it right or wrong.

The book is a quick and easy read and if you are looking for the names of some of Washington money guys then give it a try. But mostly this seems like a book that was published to cash in on the hot topic of money and politics. He does make some interesting suggestions for reforming the current system. I liked limiting the length of campaigns, but I don't think that would do much about issue ads. I think we would have months of ads ending with, "call George W. Bush and tell him his eyes are to close together," or "call Al Gore and tell him, he wasn't the first man on the moon".

Follow the money.......2000-06-26

The reader is confused because in the beginning because Brinbaum says the days of flagrant corruption are long gone, but then tells story after story of flagrant corruption. He says it is not what we think it is then cites numerous examples of corruption that are exactly what I think it is. Most to the tales told are from previously published stories the rest have the flavor of cocktail party chatter, or should I say fun raiser chatter. He names plenty of names, but is short on facts. The problem with the facts are that some of them are wrong. I will let the readers pick their own favorite error mine was him saying that Koch Industries was in the book wholesaling business. Koch is in lots of businesses, but none of them is the book business. The nearest connection was when Koch jointly owned a refinery with Hank Ingram, whose family owned Ingram books, but the Koch - Ingram business relationship ended in 1950. As an error, this is not a big one, but it makes you wonder about what else is in error. He refers to some studies, but falls to provide source information, so you can't check to see if he got it right or wrong.

A must-read for those wanting to understand campaign finance.......2000-06-21

Having been active in politics and political campaigns for 10+ years now, and staying current with the news of the day, I thought I had a pretty good working knowledge of the campaign finance issue. That is, until I read Mr. Birnbaum's excellent book, "The Money Men". I found out just how lacking in knowledge I was on this issue.

I was drawn to this book because of my interest in politics, and also because I have enjoyed Mr. Birnbaum's work with Fortune magazine and the Fox News Channel. The book he has crafted is not a disappointment; rather, it exceeded all my expectations.

The draw to this book from political pro to political novice is that is is thoroughly readable. A lot of people tend to get turned off by issues such as campaign finance because it is presented to us in that "policy wonk" or "green lampshade" form that is hard to digest. Mr. Birnbaum presents the ins and outs of the money game and its players in layman's terms that shed things in a whole new light. The length of the book also makes it appealing, because it doesn't give one the feeling of reading an academic textbook.

Another strongpoint of this book is that Mr. Birnbaum is wholly impartial and objective in his writing. He doesn't focus on one side/party or the other; he gives Republicans and Democrats equal time - and criticism. He also does it without being sanctimonious or elitist, and I daresay there aren't too many others inside the Beltway who could present it any better than in this form.

Of course, there are a series of proposed solutions to reform the campaign finance system, as should be expected from any book on the subject. But unlike the politicians, Mr. Birnbaum presents proposals that would reform the system while also being eminently digestable to the public-at-large and - provided they had common sense - the politicians.

Quite simply, this book is a must-read for those both in and out of politics. For those in the game, it will likely do to you what it did to me: teach just how little I knew while explaining how it works and how to fix it. For those apathetic or thinking politics doesn't matter, this is worthwhile if only to make one understand the issue and begin to find ways to fix the system so as to be palatable. Most of these people think the government doesn't represent them; this is a book that shows one way to show how they can get that lack of representation back. But most of all, for anyone who falls into either category, it is worthwhile to read so one can stay properly informed when the issue rears its ugly head in the media.

Average customer rating:
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Product Description

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Manufacturer: Jay Kaplan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: B000BYT1TG

Product Description

A Millionaire Without Money is an unusual and interesting story of a boy born into a family which would eventually number ten. His parents worked very hard all their lives and never earned a decent living wage. The boy started his working career when he was twelve years old and never completed high school. With this meager background he grew up to meet people like Larry King, Mr. Gamble of Proctor and Gamble, and at one time gave advise to Ted Arison on the marketing of Carnival Cruise Lines, one of the Largest Cruise Lines in the World. In later years he ws employed by an agency of the department of defense and had 2,000 people working under his supervision. You will enjoy the episode where by signing up to enter a basketball tournament, he became the heavy weight champion boxer of the army air corps at Chanute Field, Ill. Today at age 73, he plays racquetball three times a week giving a 30 year advantage to his opponents and in recent ratings was classified as the second best player in his age bracket in the United States. This story is related strictly from memory. Many parts you will find hard to believe. from book's introduction

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