BOOK REVIEW: THE STORY OF SILVER

It was primarily due to the author’s interest in the fascinating story of how the Hunt brothers cornered the market in silver in the late 1970s, driving its price up to $50 an ounce by January 1, 1980 (which was also due to world events such as the Iranian Revolution) that finance expert William Silber wrote his deeply researched and beautifully written The Story of Silver: How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World.

Silber was, for 30 years, a finance and economics professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He has served as a consultant to many companies, as well as the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and is the author of many previous volumes. His well-received new book published earlier this year helps educate the reader about many of the key concepts regarding silver’s role in the U.S. monetary system while also providing an entertaining account of the key personalities that have shaped that history. Some reviewers have compared it to a John Grisham thriller.

Silber’s focus is on how silver went from soft money to hard asset and how powerful individuals — either acting on their own behalf or for the silver industry — have manipulated silver’s role in our monetary system and its price. Many readers probably have heard about how the mining industry lobbied for passage of legislation that resulted in the striking of the Morgan dollar from 1878 to 1904 and in its return in 1921 following extensive melting. But many may not realize how fundamental this dynamic has been to the role of silver in our monetary system and may not be familiar with the repeated cycles of unintended consequences from domestic support for the silver industry on our economy and even on our foreign policy and major world events.

Silber (whose last name serendipitously means “silver” in German) goes back to the founding of the American nation to understand silver’s role. Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, favored a bimetal monetary system based on silver and gold coinage, which led to the ratio of 15 to 1 between the two metals established under the 1792 Coinage Act used for many years afterward.

To read the complete article, see:
The Coin Analyst: Silver’s Important Role in American History, Politics and Finance (https://coinweek.com/bullion-report/the-coin-analyst-silvers-important-role-in-american-history-politics-and-finance/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW BOOK: THE STORY OF SILVER (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n08a06.html)
NEW BOOK: THE STORY OF SILVER (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n19a05.html)

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