This book is both easy to understand and pretty entertaining. Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, has produced some of the seminal texts on the history of the international monetary system, such as Golden Fetters and Globalizing Capital. This new title is another reflective and impressive offering.

 The task of writing a history of international currencies across about 2,500 years, from the emergence of coins in Ancient Greece, through the era of the Roman Empire, Medieval Europe and the Renaissance all the way to the era of sterling and then the US dollar and on to cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies, is not an easy feat. Eichengreen has managed to make that task look almost effortless. That’s especially difficult, since he is writing in a crowded field. There are already a number of outstanding texts that discuss the history of money and the international financial order. What really sets apart this particular text is the author’s ability to blend historical narrative with economic insights.

Rather than presenting a succession of currencies in chronological order, Eichengreen continually returns to the central question of why some currencies become international, why they retain that position for long periods, and ultimately why they decline. In doing so, he demonstrates that military power and economic size alone are never sufficient. Credibility, institutional strength, financial markets and political stability all play indispensable roles. Another strength is the author’s style. It is direct, engaging and refreshingly free of unnecessary jargon. At roughly 240 pages, excluding notes and appendices, the book is considerably shorter than many comparable works, yet there is remarkably little sense of lost detail or historical insight. Complex debates are distilled with admirable clarity, making the book accessible to general readers while remaining rewarding for specialists.

The discussion of sterling and the dollar is particularly strong, reflecting Eichengreen’s longstanding expertise in this field. His treatment of contemporary questions, including the prospects for the renminbi, the euro and digital currencies, is balanced and avoids the more sensational claims often found in discussions of the future international monetary system.

 This is an excellent synthesis by one of the foremost historians of international finance. It succeeds both as an introduction for readers approaching the subject for the first time and as a thoughtful reflection for those already familiar with the literature.