The parallels aren't exact, but common themes run from the period between the Revolution and the Civil War to the present: trust and distrust in finance, questions about government's proper role (including issues like regulation), the nature of the free market, the house-of-cards element of our economy. In highlighting how those themes and others played out during the United States' first seventy years, Stephen Mihm also opens a window into our current financial situation. I won't call this book indispensable, but it is enjoyable (despite some patches of dry, academic writing) and insightful, into both the past and the present.

Full to the brim with endless examples of early 19th century Americana, this book falls into a relatively rare group of works about the nation's fiscal policies and the nature of frontier banking even an average reader can approach. In these days of failing major banks it's rather charming to note how trust and deception regarding the issuance of money and the establishing of secure credit were always constants, ongoing fundamentals to any country's economic well being!

The author does not write as well as might be wished, and tend to dwell much to long on the same examples. The book also needs tightening up, and most importantly - break up the huge central chapter.

That said, this is a good book and one anyone interested in the beginnings of our banking might well peruse with profit of a different kind than the many and various fly by night operators who added to the color of early Americana at the dawn of our Republic.

For the first hundred years of our nation's existence there was no federally printed or controlled money. Regional banks printed money, in a variety of styles, some of it very cheaply printed. Not only regional banks printed money. It was so easily done as to be an encouragement for counterfeiting.

This book tells of those counterfeiters, and how some of the counterfeit money actually became to be regarded as more valuable than money printed by banks. In the end, the author makes the point that all paper money is essentially a confidence game. What makes it valuable is not what backs it, as the U.S. dollar no longer has precious metals backing it. It is the confidence of the marketplace and of people in the money that makes it valuable.

A great book. Recommended!

Honestly, I do. I'm not a quitter and I commit to following things through most of the time, and that includes books. I absolutely detest starting to read a book and then quitting in the middle.

I couldn't even make it past the first chapter of this book. The writing is so dry. I figured that this would actually be a really interesting book to read, given the subject matter, but I was so wrong. Perhaps in another author's hands, it would have been, but I just could not get past the writing. It was nearly putting me to sleep. I tried several times before giving up altogether.

I can't recommend this book to anyone...it will induce a coma.

In the last ten years or so it seems the Americam paper currency has been redesigned at least two times. More colors have been added, flecks added to the paper, and various watermarks and clues in the paper currency make our paper dollars somewhat cryptic.

That's because people counterfeit the Almight Dollar. And with more and more sophisticated printers and equipment being made, the battle to combat counterfeiters is getting harder and harder.

This book looks at the history of our currency we don't often hear about. This book looks at the many ways and methods, past and present, that paper currency of the United States has been counterfeited. In a sense the author blames the government itself for not being so controlling of its economy. Yeah, we can't have that laxity, we need central control. Could it be that, until recently, the dollar was so strong and universally accepted that counterfeiting the dollar was an attractive option?

The book is a rather enlightening look at this aspect of American history and its economy.

It's hard to imagine a time when the value of paper money was so nebulous that some counterfeits were regarded more highly than legitimate bank notes, but for nearly a century, the United States monetary system functioned in a bizarre netherworld where nothing short of actual specie could be taken at face value.

Libertarians will probably hate this book, because Mihm clearly sees the virtues in a strong centralized government (or bank, in the case of the 1st & 2nd BUS) keeping the nation's currency supply tightly regulated. From the early days of the Republic, up until the Civil War, Mihm paints a picture of a monetary free-for-all where "legitimate" bankers were often as disreputable (or worse) than the criminal counterfeiters. At times, they were one & the same, and honest tradesmen & customers suffered as a result. I cannot even begin to imagine the paranoia that a merchant must have felt whenever a bank note was tendered for goods & services. Good old days, my foot.

Mihm's very entertaining & well-written account is a pretty compelling argument for why complete lack of regulation really is not a good thing. Ask anyone whose livelihood was wiped out by doing business with a shady bank if they thought that perhaps some government regulation of private enterprise might have been in the public good. The end of slavery wasn't the only good thing to come from the Civil War.

For American counterfeiters, the first half of the 19th Century was an age of gold (or should one say "pyrite"?). For most of that period, the United States had no central bank; throughout all of it, the great bulk of the currency in circulation consisted of notes issued by state-chartered banks. Since there were hundreds of these issuers, it was relatively easy to slip bogus notes into the system. Larcenous entrepreneurs were quick to seize this opportunity. Their activities bedeviled merchants and honest bankers. The effort needed to detect counterfeits imposed significant transaction costs on the economy, though phony bills may have benefited areas where currency would otherwise have been scarce. It is remarkable that large scale counterfeiting didn't lead to intolerable inflation and reversion to a barter economy. Rather, the U.S. economy grew briskly in the long run, interrupted by the occasional panic and recession.

Mr. Mihm's book describes and analyzes what might be called the "social" element of counterfeiting: who the counterfeiters were, how they printed and distributed bills and evaded law enforcement, what businessmen and the government did in response, how the public viewed the contest. In doing so, he brings to light a great deal of forgotten history, full of colorful characters and fascinating events. On the economic side of the story - the actual effects of counterfeiting on consumption and production - he is silent, except for off-hand sniping at the "confidence game" (his term) of capitalism. His book is in no sense a prequel to Friedman and Schwartz's Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. For what it does, however, it is first rate.

Like many I didn't realize that we did not have a national currency until well after our country was founded. It was fascinating to learn that many banks used to print their own currency and how this system could be, and was, often manipulated and abused. I thought many times of Ayn Rand when reading this and her notions of money/work and felt like this book explained where her ideas came from. Thorughly enjoyable and recommended.

I love to read books about the U.S. Civil War but I was initially a little concerned that I would not enjoy "A Nation of Counterfeiters...," since the subject seemed to be a bit dry. I am happy to say I was wrong. Stephen Mihm, a professor of history at the University of Georgia, authored a very interesting and entertaining story of the United States before the Federal government put into place a national monetary system.
Back before the Federal government printed money, counterfeiters and others of dubious distinction took advantage of the fact that regional banks printed dollars. The fact that the system was totally unregulated means the counterfeiters had a field day, and Mihm details the stories of several characters and charlatans, bringing their story to life in a very vivid and entertaining manner.

As counterfeiting technology improved up until the years leading up to the Civil War, these con artists took advantage of the system and printed dollars that look amazingly similar to the dollars that were being printed at the time by the regional banks.

The book has plenty of illustrations, and Mihm does a great job providing backstories to some of the books main characters. If you are a student of history, or if you would just like to read an interesting account of the monetary system of pre Civil War America, then I would highly recommend this book.

The research that must have gone into this book is staggering to think of. But here at your fingertips is everything you ever wanted to know about the history of currency in the United States. As our money continues to evolve (Anyone else think those new purple fives look like high-octane monopoly money?) the time has never been more ripe to take a look back at where it all started, and see how it has effected our society on both economic and personal levels. The photos provided of the money bring it all to life for you, as does Mr. Mihm impressive ability to breathe life into cold hard historical facts. I am a lover of history, yet I do not generally read nonfiction. I found that this book satisfied me both on a historical level, in the sense that I felt myself *learning* the entire time I read it, and on a personal level. I never felt that cold detachment that often comes with reading nonfiction selections. I couldn't recommend this more highly to anyone who has ever looked down at their money and wondered about its journey. This book is a journey in itself.

In the beginning in North America there was wampum and buck skins and tobacco leaves. This book details our transition from those primitive beginnings to the paper money we recognize today.

Unlike South and Central America, gold and silver was in very short supply; so short, in fact, that when banks did start issuing pieces of paper that were promises to redeem the paper for gold and silver, many of the banks did not actually have enough of the precious metals to redeem all the paper they'd issued.

Promises to pay are as old as civilization and counterfeiting probably is too, but the counterfeiting culture that arose in the first half of the 19th century must surely rank with the most extravagant. By 1850 hundreds of banks were issuing paper money and less than half had the precious metal reserves to back it. Some banks had no reserves at all: counterfeit banks. Then there were the real counterfeiters, issuing fake notes in imitation of the good banks and bad banks.

Nation of Counterfeiters tells the tale of these operators who either served or exploited the public, depending on one's point of view . It puts one in the shoes of people who had to try to pay for things with questionable money, as well as of a merchant who had to decide every day, several times a day, whether to accept a slip of "money". The question came down to confidence. Oftentimes counterfeit notes were more skillfully executed than real ones, and so inspired more confidence, and confidence was the real coin of the realm. What good was a real bank note if you could not pass it on to someone else? One would rather have a counterfeit that inspired confidence, than a genuine note that no one would accept.

It took surprisingly long to adopt what seems to us now the obvious solution: government fiat money. From 1800 to the middle of the Civil War money was supplied to a great extent by phony bankers and real counterfeiters--a period of over 60 years. This book is an impressive recreation of the era, not just the bankers and politicians, but also the desperately poor people who found illicit employment passing the notes (shoving, as it was known). Chapter Five is especially good, depicting a host of small time operators reminiscent of the characters of Oliver Twist: the comely young woman who sways the jury with her tears; the well-dressed gent who skips town on a riverboat; the prostitute trying to spend her hard-earned cash.

All in all, a bright light shone on a dark period in the growth of the money system which has been preeminent for nearly a century.

In the beginning in North America there was wampum and buck skins and tobacco leaves. Unlike South and Central America, gold and silver was in very short supply; so short, in fact, that when banks did start issuing pieces of paper that were promises to redeem the paper for gold and silver, many of the banks did not actually have enough of the precious metals to redeem all the paper they'd issued.

Promises to pay are as old as civilization and counterfeiting probably is too, but the counterfeiting culture that arose in the first half of the 19th century must surely rank with the most extravagant. By 1850 hundreds of banks were issuing paper money and less than half had the precious metal reserves to back it. Some banks had no reserves at all: counterfeit banks. Then there were the real counterfeiters, issuing fake notes in imitation of the good banks and bad banks.

Nation of Counterfeiters tells the tale of these operators who either served or exploited the public, depending on one's point of view . It puts one in the shoes of people who had to try to pay for things with questionable money, as well as of a merchant who had to decide every day, several times a day, whether to accept a slip of "money". The question came down to confidence. Oftentimes counterfeit notes were more skillfully executed than real ones, and so inspired more confidence, and confidence was the real coin of the realm. What good was a real bank note if you could not pass it on to someone else? One would rather have a counterfeit that inspired confidence, than a genuine note that no one would accept.

It took surprisingly long to adopt what seems to us now the obvious solution: government fiat money. From 1800 to the middle of the Civil War money was supplied to a great extent by phony bankers and real counterfeiters--a period of over 60 years. This book is an impressive recreation of the era, not just the bankers and politicians, but also the desperately poor people who found illicit employment passing the notes (shoving, as it was known). Chapter Five is especially good, depicting a host of small time operators reminiscent of the characters of Oliver Twist: the comely young woman who sways the jury with her tears; the well-dressed gent who skips town on a riverboat; the prostitute trying to spend her hard-earned cash.

All in all, a bright light shone on an obscure period in the growth of the money system which came to rule the world.

'A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States' was well written, entertaining, and a very enjoyable initial step into an entirely new subject.

Everything in this book was new to me as I have never read or studied anything about this interesting facet of our history. Stephen Mihm did an amazing job with providing a stunning amount of detail without the reader feeling as if they were being overwhelmed by dry, uninteresting material. Who knew that I could be so fascinated by so much information that I never knew I would want to know? I can't say enough about a writer who can keep readers interested and entertained while providing a substantial education in history on an obscure subject.

It must be obvious from the previous paragraph that I have never been comfortable with learning historical facts. Perhaps if more of my attempts at gaining knowledge had been made through books presented in this way, I would have enjoyed it more and certainly learned a great deal more.

Even if you have never felt even a passing interest in the subject of the history of money in America or the characters who populated the years prior to the stabilization of our currency, I feel safe in saying, you will be more than interested after reading Mihm's introduction into the world of American money's colorful past.

Economics is not my forte and the history of economics is really not something that's going to get me excited, but this book was fascinating in its own right as it talked about counterfeiting as a method of which we came to a National Currency. Much like Freakanomics, this book explores an "underground" economy and brings it into the light to see how much it works in the context of the society at large.

I did not know that a national currency wasn't available until the 1860s and that Andrew Jackson fought against it. Nor did I know that counterfeiting was a relative easy operation given the amount of bank notes circulating from various banks and various locations.

As I said, this is not my chosen field of obsession. But if I read more by Stephen Mihm, it very well could be.

"A Nation of Counterfeiters" examines the monetary system in the United States between the Revolutionary and Civil wars, when the responsibility for printing money was in the hands of hundreds of private state-charted banks that produced over 10,000 different kinds of bank notes. Counterfeiters thrived in this environment, where, amid shortages of paper money, free-wheeling banks, and legitimate bank notes that fluctuated in value, counterfeit cash was tolerated and even welcomed to buoy the burgeoning industrial economy. The public often couldn't distinguish between a real note and a counterfeit one, a banker and a criminal, and had little reason to want to. This is the story of the people and forces that created this fascinating, anarchic money supply.

Stephen Mihm follows the underground economic chain from counterfeiters, to couriers, to wholesalers, to retailers, to shovers, who put the funny money on the streets. He chronicles the colorful careers of the elite of counterfeiting gangs in the early 19th century who operated just north of the disputed Vermont-Canadian border, on Cogniac Street in Dunham -hence the term "coniaker"- and then along the Cuyahoga River in Ohio. Engravers, who often found themselves working for both legitimate banks and counterfeiting clients, are discussed, along with the evolving technology of printing plates, whose interchangeable dies made operations both more efficient and more imitable by counterfeiters who could produce high-quality, elaborate paper.

The organization of "A Nation of Counterfeiters" is generally chronological, though a chapter on the crusade by President Andrew Jackson against the Second Bank of the United States in the 1830s is placed somewhat awkwardly among chapters on various players in the counterfeit economy. A chapter on "passing and detecting" is particularly entertaining, as it shows us the deception and exasperation that the average person experienced in making any cash transaction in the early 19th century, when working class people might make a living eking out small profits on counterfeit notes, and shopkeepers might subscribe to "Thompson's Bank Note Reporter" to assist them in spotting bad money, though the publication did more to help counterfeiters than the public.

"A Nation of Counterfeiters" concludes with the surprisingly fast transition to a uniform, federally guaranteed paper currency during the 1860s, when the Union needed to fund the Civil War. The tables turned on counterfeiters quickly, as their crime was now against a government determined to guard the confidence in its money supply. The parallel stories of the Union "greenbacks" and Confederate "graybacks" are an interesting aspect of the War. Stephen Mihm's recurring observation that there was little difference between a counterfeiter and a banker, or between a counterfeit bill and one issued by a defunct or faltering bank becomes repetitive after a while. But the point is well-taken, and this is a generally well-written history of the chaos and unusual opportunities of emerging capitalism. There are some nice illustrations of the bank notes in question as well.

Stephen Mihm, an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Georgia, makes a compelling case for not only the existence of counterfeiting in our nation's history but also it's necessity. Necessity?
Yes. You see, by mid-nineteenth century, the country's economy was growing by leaps and bounds, with people and goods moving everywhere, and a convenient, reliable medium of exchange was needed. (Barter worked for thousands of years, but it's not always feasable to accept a cow in exchange for silverware, particularly if you have no place to keep her.)
In short, people needed workable scrip (money), and the large banks just weren't providing it fast enough. Into this breach stepped the counterfeiters, often out-of-work engravers looking for a job, any job. Mihms makes it very clear that back in the day, counterfeiting was often considered about as harmful as speeding is today, at least at first. The book is strongest in it's opening and middle chapters, and the author actually makes a case for money as a primary reason that the Union won the Civil War. (It took the states too long to decide anything in their various state legislatures; also, the more industrial North had many more engravers who could counterfeit Confederate currency faster and in better quality than the actual Southern moneycrafters themselves.) Unfortunately, the book runs out of steam in it's discussion of 20th century and present-day counterfeiting, and it would have been nice to discuss modern encrypting techniques which led to the recent overhaul of our paper currency. That said, this is still an excellent read, particularly for students of history, as well as for anyone who is genuinely fascinated about our currency and how it came to be.

Although we take it for granted, the dollar was not always sound. Stephen Mihm details the muddled and often fraudulent economy of pre-greenback America in his book A Nation of Counterfeiters.

Mihm draw vivid portraits. An Associate history professor at the University of Georgia, he details the flim-flam artists who plied this trade. With more than more than 10,000 shades and varieties of cheaply printed currency on the market by the 1850s, he does not lack for stories. He paints colorful pictures of the flimflam artists, their ruses, and the ramification of their frauds.

His villains include the notorious privateer, minister and alchemist Stephen Burroughs, along with numerous bankers, engravers, cops and charlatans.

Mihm's book, through long, provides a unique understanding of the nineteenth century banking debate. It underscores the result of our founding fathers' failure to understand the central role of banking in commerce. This history is unique and entertaining.

This book is a detailed history of the parallel history of paper currency in the U.S. from it's original printing during the colonial period. Up til then most of the financial backing for commercial enterprise was based on gold or silver. Of course, bartering was much used in place of coinage, but the U.S. took its ideas for capitalism from Great Britain...setting up the similar laws and ideas that governed their state, and eventually, their country-wide finances. Once paper currency evolved (and often did not have the backing of gold/silver coin) men of dubious character saw a distinct possibility in developing illegal wealth by creating their own 'funny money.'

And 'characters' they were. Mihm does a good job illustrating the type of men, their cronies, the people they pawned off their goods on, and the financial world they lived in that led to such a incredible business of conterfeiting that prior to the creation of paper money was difficult to achieve due to difficulties in coining exact copies. Unfortunately, the coinciding behaviours of legitimate banks and other governing bodies made it possible for this criminal behavior to flourish. Mihm shows there was a very fine line between what was legitimate and what was illegal in using paper currency.

This is an incredible history not only for those in business and finance but also in those following early American History. It's difficult to fully understand why the Bank of America failed if this criminal background is not known or understood. The only complaint about this book is it tends to ramble and repeat itself at times. However, it is a unique history definitely needed in the field of finance.

Karen Sadler

The book was interesting, but a bit of a slog to read. Seems like the story of one counterfeiter over another, and somehow it just doesn't capture my imagination and entertain me as some history does. The book also focuses mainly on counterfeiting, rather than banking. I'd thought there might be more over the banks that issued the notes, and there is some on this subject, but it seems more like the history of one counterfeiter after another. If this subject is interesting to you, this book is a great resource, but if you are reading this out of general history interest, and a desire to be entertained, this book may not be the best bang for your buck (whether a counterfeit buck or not!).

While being at its heart a history book, A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS avoids the dry and tedious nature typical of such books. By including fascinating (and often humorous) biographical descriptions of infamous con-men such as Sephen Burroughs, Lyman Parkes, and Ebenezer Gleason, Mihm brings history to life. These colorful figures, many of whom were something like folk heroes in early America, make this book truly worth reading. Mihm's style is easy to read and engaging, and the numerous illustrations are helpful.

This book chronicles the rather chaotic time (late 18th century - Civil War) when America was struggling with its identity as a nation as well as coping with major changes in population growth and economic freedom. The transition from independent banks printing their own promissory notes to the federalisation of all currency in the U.S. was full of debate, question, and crime. It was a critical time for our country, as the government's role in the economy and in individual's lives was largely determined. Since then, the federal government has done nothing but consolidate more and more power without looking back.

The only thing that bothered me about the book was Mihm's repeated efforts to link criminal counterfeiters to legitimate capitalists. While capitalism may not always be pretty or seem fair, it is far from the obvious immoral and illegal act of passing of forged bills as genuine. Not a major complaint, but I just kept getting the feeling that Mihm was making a pointed effort to bash capitalism in general.

Overall, this book is worth your time and is sure to teach you something new and interesting about American history.

In "A Nation of Counterfeiters", author Stephen Mihm weaves a fascinating tale of the influence of counterfeiters, banks and politicians on the development America's paper currency from the early 19th century up to and after the American Civil War. He explores counterfeiting and counterfeiters themselves, the struggle to fight them and their effect on trade and paper currency.

As my father was once something of a numismatist, this book jumped out at me immediately. Due to his mentioning it to me years ago, was somewhat aware that before the U.S. Civil War, the paper money situation was an odd one, but it wasn't until I began reading this book that I realized exactly how strange things really were.

The paper money in your wallet was not always something to be trusted at a glance, nor did it signify a national government, nor was it something instantly recognizable as either.

Before the Civil War, the Federal Government took a back seat when it came to monetary policy (due to the agitation of anti paper-money folks like Andrew Jackson and the nation's various banks) leaving it up to a multitude of state chartered banks to produce money for trade and commerce. With literally hundreds of banks in operation in over 30 states by the 1850's, there came a dizzying array of bank bills.

It was into this mass of thousands of bills hailing from all over the country that counterfeiters stepped in, using the confusion to their advantage to make money by faking it. With so many banks producing money, it became impossible for the average person to tell what was real or not, creating a peculiar sort of economy where counterfeits were often treated as real simply by the need to have money.

Mihm contends that in many ways, counterfeiting was capitalism at its purist, with supply and demand creating a complex and interwoven network of engravers, pushers, dealers and confidence men, all looking to make a profit. At times, the line between counterfeiters and real banks became blurred as wildcat banks formed, preying on the need for money without the means to back up their promises. The average tradesman became an unwilling participant in this mess, either forced to desperately try to separate the fake from the real, or by simple expediency, become complicit in the fraud by passing the money on so as not to take a loss.

For the average person such as myself, it is hard to imagine such a convoluted way of dealing with a nation's money supply, but the eventual answer of a single national currency was not always clear. The United States was the bastion of the Free Market, and making money was part of it. This became a vigorously defended ideal that eventually collapsed under the weight of its own convoluted nature. It took a war and the needs of a Federal government to pay for it to create the impetus for a true, Federally controlled national currency. Even with such a currency in place, it took still others, such as the Secret Service (founded by a crafty bureaucrat seeking to carve out a niche for himself) to stamp out counterfeiting and put the Dollar in its place as the symbol of national commerce.

"A Nation of Counterfeiters" is a deeply researched book, exploring a complex and intricate past spanning dozens of states. Its details and stories are ones that truly could not have been easy ones to unearth.

At times it reads a little unevenly as the author's enthusiasm for his subject stumbles over some of the harder facts and necessary details needed for such a work, creating dry spots that one has to push through. Still, author Mihm has taken his clearly in depth research of the subject and created a lively, entertaining and utterly fascinating book. Its subject is perhaps a little too deep for the casual reader, but for the lover of history, its story and analysis of American currency is invaluable both for understanding the perspective of American commerce before the Civil War, and for gaining insight into exactly why and how the U.S. Dollar became what it is.

I can't recommend it enough to students of history, those fascinated with the intricacies of money and to amateur numismatists such as myself.

. . . on a subject most people don't even consider!

I'm a big history buff. I'm even reasonably proficient on some of the monetary battles which have taken place throughout American history. But the material presented in this book was truly new to me.

Although a history book, the author is a good storyteller while relating the accounts of various counterfeiters operating at different points in American history. One also learns a great deal about the early banking practices in the US, as well as the chartering (and demise) of the First and Second Banks of the United States.

One thing marred this book for me, just a little, and that is the use of the word "capitalist" in between "counterfeiters" and "con men" -- a tendency which continued throughout the book. While certainly the counterfeiters exercised, shall we say, "creative" capitalism, one should not lump all capitalists with crooks!

The subject matter at issue in this volume -- the concurrent rise of a stable currency in the early US, and the rise of counterfeiting practice -- is quite interesting. Mihm enlivens what might otherwise have been a dry academic tome with colorful biographical sketches of the most notorious early counterfeiters. As the stuff of popular history, his book makes for entertaining and somewhat illuminating reading. I, for one, would have preferred a little more emphasis on theory and analysis, a little less on biographical details. My guess is that ANoC began life as a dissertation manuscript that the author thought (or that he was advised by his literary agent) to water down in the interests of reaching a wider readership. My own feeling: he watered too much. Even so, ANoC sheds light on an aspect of US history I had never considered before. Mihm raises many compelling questions. After reading his book, I am interested in exploring this topic further. Kudos to Mihm for sparking my interest. I would definitely read him again in future.

This book was a solid history of the early days of banking in the United States. The writing is good, and lively. The facts are interesting. It's definitely an enjoyable read. I gave it four stars instead of five because, like the title of this review says, it was a solid book instead of a book that made me say to my friends, "Oh my gosh, you have to have this book." In sum: it's a good book for those interested in the subject (whether the subject is banking or currency or American history) but not one that would go on my short list to take to a deserted island.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Schools generally teach the broad sweep of history and miss out on many of the interesting byways. Until I read this book I knew more about the medieval monetary system than the one in the United States prior to the Civil War. I picked this book up because it sounded interesting but I found myself keeping it by me so I could pick it up and read a chapter now and then.

I thought that the stories of counterfeiters were intriguing and I kept finding nuggets that I thought would go great in a historical mystery. Mihm even, in fact gave me another view of Herman Melville's last novel, The Confidence Man in his Prologue. Also the section about Burroughs, the legendary counterfeiter of the early 19th century, and his encounter with Vermont Sheriff, Mike Barron was a classic criminal story. Looked at from a story teller's view point, the early part of this book is not without incident and personality.

I would also like to comment about the jacket. Usually I notice, but don't make a fuss about bookjackets. They are usually pretty or ugly, matte finished or shiny, but the Harvard Press has created a jacket where the illustration of the bank note is very shiny and slick, while the black background is matte. It really is a pleasure to feel.

I had recently become a Kindle convert and I was wondering how owning Amazon's great new ebook reader would affect my interest in paper books. I am happy to say that I still appreciate an attractive book and this book is perfect for paper because of the numerous illustrations of notes. In fact, I would think this book would also find a ready home in the library of any numismatist.

I had a lot of interest in this book when I started reading it, but the book quickly left me bored. There's scant background information on the characters featured in the book, so the reader is left wondering who the author is talking about at any given time (or why we should care about them) The title of the book also seems a little bit misleading in its broadness. Is the United States a nation of counterfeiters? Certainly, counterfeiting money was widespread during the early 1800s, however, the notion that this is what "made" the US is not established and supported by the author. What could have been a really exciting historical narrative (a la "Seabiscuit") is more like a dry textbook for school.

Stephen Mihm's 'A Nation Of Counterfeiters' is an interesting book basically about how counterfieters and their product helped shape the United States as we know it. Its an intriguing theory, but I don't know if Mihm has put enough information into this book to convince me. Reading the book, I found myself coming across quite a few parts that I feel like I wanted to know a bit more about. Mihm is a talented, interesting writer but I wish he would have delved a bit deeper into some of the topics he brings up.

All in all, 'A Nation Of Counterfeiters' is an interesting read which brings up some interesting ideas. But I don't feel that Mihm has presented it in a way that totally convinces me of his theories regarding how these so-called 'con men' helped to shape a young America. Maybe Mihm will return to this subject in a future tome and flesh out the ideas that he began in this book.

I am the type of person who is drawn to little segments of American History that are studied in detail. This book filled that niche nicely with fascinating information about the time before out paper currency was federalized.

There are many good reviews containing much information; any addition I could make would be redundant at best. If you like economic history of are fascinated by currency, I would highly recommend this book.

I've gotta start this review off with a confession -- I haven't finished this book yet. It isn't that I don't like it, it's just that... well, it's hard to put my finger on it. Four stars is the rating I think the average reader would give to it. For me, personally, it's more of a three star, so here's what I do and don't like about this book and who I think this is for.

I chose this book because I know very little about how the U.S. monetary system came into being and what it was like in the early days of the country. And it does interest me -- it's fascinating stuff. But the book starts awfully slowly with what is known about the earliest counterfeiters. The problem is, that not much is known, and this info is presented before any overview of the monetary system being counterfeited and what the phony money did to the economy. It would have been a lot easier to understand and more interesting as well if Mihm had started with the overview and then gone into the specific people. As it is, there isn't enough known to make these people compelling and for someone with no background in economics, particularly of monetary systems, it was hard to figure out whether counterfeiting was a good or a bad thing until about page 240, when all finally became clear. As I was reading the first two hundred pages or so I kept thinking that this would make a great novel, because you could fill in so much more about the time period and give these people full backgrounds and personalities. Had they come in later, it wouldn't have mattered that not much was known because we'd have had the bigger picture established.

Mihm can write well so this isn't the problem. I think for me it was just a lack of organization that didn't make it compelling enough to pick up when I have better choices in the house. I will finish it at some point. Mihm ends up doing a great job describing the major players who created such monetary policy as there was and the competing viewpoints about who should be allowed to print money and what should be done with banks who couldn't back up their paper with specie (coins) and with the various counterfeiters. In the early days of the country, counterfeiters would operate across state lines as well as the Canadian border and there wasn't a lot of cross-jurisdictional cooperation. There was also the problem that if a bank's money wasn't worth anything in the first place, copying it wasn't really considered counterfeiting money because the "real" bills had no value. It's hard to believe our current system, with which most people feel safe, came out of such chaos. Mihm ends up doing a really good job at showing why people were willing to accept the bills, even if they were counterfeit (after all, there wasn't enough specie to enable trade and people wanted something that would help the economy grow. If people placed their faith in paper, "real" or not, the system would work. Counterfeiters ended up filling a legitimate need).

So, I really liked the topic and the writing, I just have an issue with how/when the material is presented. If you understand economics or life in the 18th century U.S. better than I do, you might not share my concerns. But I can definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in the subject. If you already know a lot, there are details you can't find anywhere else, and if you're new to the subject, those details may slow you down, but the bigger picture is still in there. It just takes a while to get to it, but it's an enjoyable ride until you're there.

Not many people realize that the familiar old greenback that they have in their pocket does not date back all the way to the beginning of the republic. Instead, early on, the United States allowed many different banks to print their own money. This resulted in a plethora of pretty and quite interesting bills, a real joy to the collector. However, it also resulted in a plethora of broken bills (from banks that went out of business, making their dollars worthless) and counterfeit currency.

In this fascinating book, author and Assistant Professor of History at University of Georgia, Stephen Mihm, looks at the history of the counterfeiters who made their living off of the early banknotes, exploiting a weakness in the economy, but also helping to expand the economy. Along the way, the reader is treated to stories of many counterfeiters, lawmen, crooks, capitalists, and...well, the whole economy of pre-Civil War America.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating book. The author did a great job of presenting the phenomenon of early banknotes and their counterfeiters in an interesting and highly informative manner. I, for example, was aware of the old banknotes, but this book really went a long way towards enlightening me on how they came about and how they worked.

I really enjoyed this book, and certainly recommend it to everyone!

Mr. Mihm's book is about nothing less than the birth of the American economy. He's picked an extremely compelling topic to focus on, that being the little-documented but hugely impactful area of counterfeiting. Mihm focuses on some of the biggest players in the counterfeiting world and fits them inside the context of the booming pre-Civil War economic climate.

It was a different world then. There was no one official national currency. As demand grew, banks started springing up daily, issuing their own paper money. But the plethora of banks only made it that much easier to make an acceptable fake. Say if you worked at a store in Philidelphia. You wouldn't have many bills from Vermont banks pass through your hands. You would be much less able to verify their authenticity, simply because you're not sure what they look like! Mihm's point is that counterfeit bills, and the paranoia they created, undermined the stability of the early economy.

Although a little background on the function of financial markets helps in understanding this book, it shouldn't only appeal to economics fans. The tales are like something out of old westerns, and are entertaining in their own right. Mihm knows how to tell a tale, and separate fact from fiction. But it is true, the more you know about finance, the more you will get out of this book academically.

These real-life characters led lives that were no less fascinating than some of the iconic rebel figures of the Old West. The only difference is that they made their living counterfeiting, a career that isn't as immediately sexy as roobing banks or stagecoaches. As such, their stories aren't legendary, although they have every right to be. There was really a whole world of counterfeiting which most people now are unaware of. People weren't just slipping fake bills into the economy in exchange for goods. No, they were selling them, and the most authentic bills claiming to be from the most respected banks were the most highly valued. It was a whole industry. Mihm keeps these characters in the foreground while leaving the big-time financiers and government officials to toil away creating their financial markets in the background.

The book is long, but Mihm does a good job of making the story of economics history a fun and colorful. If you accept Mihm's assertion that the counterfeiters of the times weren't very different from the legitimate banks they were impersonating (that is, printing money without anything to back it up) and thus not doing much harm that wasn't done already by the banks themselves, they are much easier to accept as colorful, interesting, and fun characters.

Like the early American currency that the author describes, this book is a bit inflated. We are told that in many places, counterfeit and other dubious currency was the only medium that enabled trade and that people were often grateful for the presence of any paper money. Then, a few pages later, we are told the same thing again.
Repeating a point for emphasis is good, but combined with labored prose, the repetition makes for annoying reading. What's worse is that some of the background to this story could have been fascinating. How exactly were bills engraved and printed? What was the debate about paper money?
On p. 369 there is the observation that, after the Civil War some people wanted the government to print more greenbacks and others wanted a currency based solely on gold. Then there is no further mention of who the parties were to this debate or what their arguments were.
The discussion of currency during the Civil War hinted at how fascinating these matters could be and how vital a role counterfeiting and currency played, but there is no follow-up. The ample list of illustrations doesn't even include a sample Confederate note although the author refers frequently to their inferior quality.
There are more quibbles available to be ascribed to the publisher. Where are the capitalists and con men of the subtitle?
It's hard to believe that Harvard University Press let this pass without applying the services of an editor. The author has some talent and an apparent passion for converting the sources of American history into narrative. We may hear more from him in the future.

The living generation takes so much for granted. We complain about inflation and the foreign exchange of the US Dollar, but never consider the notion of what an economy without a largely stable currency, without a national currency, or even a currency without sufficient supply of legal currency would be like. Yet, our early Republic suffered from all three. For a very long time on the frontier people had to make do without ready cash. Of course, people everywhere will make substitutes for currency because they want to trade and direct barter is too difficult to execute.

This very interesting book by Professor Stephen Mihm of the University of Georgia, takes us through the period between Revolution to the Civil War when the nation had precious little gold and silver coins and even less experience in creating a sound currency and maintaining a sufficient supply of money to support the young nation's growing needs.

Nowadays we view counterfeiting as someone trying to pass off fake currency as if it were the real thing, and that is one part of what counterfeiting is. However, during the period under examination, there were a couple of others. Mihm gives us colorful tales of chameleons like Stephen Bourroughs who basically used fake money and fake corporations to steal from people and miraculously kept an adoring public repeating their legend.

One of the problems was that dozens and hundreds of organizations created their own notes that they promised to redeem. Merchants and private citizens could not keep track of them all and many were easy to copy, so crooks who were willing to make fakes and pass them were fairly common. Next up the ladder were the crooks who actually created their own organizations, but whose assets and stated purposes were totally fictitious. They also simply stole from the public.

Another group were citizens who created their own organizations, whether chartered or not, and who were either careless with their books and the printing of their notes or were caught up in bubble of speculation that inevitably burst. Either way, anyone holding their notes was burned when the organization failed. Whether you want to call these "bankers" crooks or something less guilt-laden, real people were hurt even if they, too, were trying to get in on the speculative bubble. This was especially true in 1837.

This is a very interesting book and I think it covers a portion of American history that needed covering. Well done! Enjoy.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

I admit to one of those folks who thrive on trivia, in particular, historical trivia. This book fit my needs perfectly. This history of counterfeting in our country, the United States, is not something that you run across in your everyday history text, nor, with one exception, much less an entire book devoted to the subject. This I liked. The author has done a wonderful job of research and has presented it is a very readable fashion. Mr. Mihm has taken a subject, that at first glance, would seem a bit boring, and actually created a book that is interesting to read. His style is smooth. His facts are fascinating. His research is well backed up and foot noted. I loved the way the autor has personalized his subject by addressing and telling of us of the actual individuals, and their families, of the men who carried on this "profession," i.e. counterfeiting. This brought the work out of the area of pure text book history and made the entire story much more interesting.

I will admit that this one may not be for everyone. Those who not like getting bogged down in minutiae might find the book slow reading at times. For those that like this sort of thing, and I admit to being one of them, then this is a great read. I have read one other work devoted to the subjec and must say that this is the better of the works. For those that felt the author was overly detailed, I can only say, that in my opinion, history and the study of history is the study of details and feel the more the better.

When we study history, we often times neglect the fact that money, the lack of money, the need for more, etc. has been a constant and important drive in everthing that we as individual and we as a nation have done, right from the start. This is a factor is the study of history that has, until now, not been stressed enough, not at this level.

This is a good work, well done, quite informative and well worth the read. I do recommend it highly.

One of the things most people take for granted is cash. We see a one dollar bill - or a five, ten or twenty - and we instantly recognize it for what it is. Imagine, on the other hand, that that one dollar bill could take a number of different forms. If there were dozens - or even hundreds - of different types of ones out there, could you be expected to accept most of them at face value? This is not mere fantasy, but instead is what the U.S. economy was like prior to the Civil War, as described in Stephen Mihm's history of the era, A Nation of Counterfeiters.

In the early days of U.S., there was no centralized type of paper money, with a number of banks all issuing their own forms. In this era, counterfeiting flourished, with few people knowledgeable enough to tell real money from its illegal imitator. The use of counterfeit detectors (books designed to distinguish counterfeit bills) did little to help the problem and actually helped the counterfeiters as much as it hurt them. Think of the modern day battle between spammers and spam filterers; every time a filterer comes up with a new way to stop spam, the spammers merely come up with a new method to bypass it.

The early chapters of Mihm's book focus on a few specific counterfeiters who prospered in this wild economic environment. Many were viewed as outlaws, not criminals, and actually received support from their community; this was the result of a general distrust of banks, a distrust not helped by the many fly-by-night banks which issued worthless money and were barely more legitimate than the counterfeiters. Unlike other outlaws like bank robbers, counterfeiters were not loners: instead, their success depended on a whole infrastructure, from the engravers to the "shovers" (the people who actually got the fake bills into circulation).

Ironically, these counterfeiters may have actually helped America grow; the extra currency assisted in keeping the economy growing. Perhaps that's not surprising: most of the value of any paper money is an illusion, but it works as long as people keep buying into it.

Eventually, the golden age of counterfeiting would come to a close with the Civil War, which centralized the currency system, so there would be only one type of each bill. Combined with a much more vigorous prosecution of counterfeiters, this type of crime was reduced considerably.

A Nation of Counterfeiters is a good look at a part of American History that is rarely discussed; outside of one chapter's discussion of the Bank Wars between Andrew Jackson and the Bank of the United States, most of this will probably be new to most readers. At times, Mihm is a bit wordy (and occasionally redundant) and the economic discussions may come off rather dry at times, so this is not a perfect book, but it is really good, worth a high four stars. A mix of true crime and history, it should appeal to readers interested in either subject.

Historian Stephen Mihm examines how counterfeit currency was an essential aspect of the market economy during the post-Revolution period in the United States in his book, A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS: CAPITALISTS, CON MEN, AND THE MAKING OF THE UNITED STATES. After the enactment of the US Constitution, the Market Revolution and monetary counterfeiting helped generate an ever-growing economy during the late eighteenth century, but the latter quickly halted during US Civil War when the US government began to regulate and control the nation's federal banking system. Mihm suggests that markets and blossoming capitalism during the Early Republic would not have thrived without the existence of counterfeiters or "speculative capitalists," who printed and used bank notes in order to buy and sell within a thriving marketplace (16).

A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS is an innovative study and well researched book that elaborates on a piece of economic history during the Early Republic that derived in Canada but quickly spread through Vermont, New York, and the rest of the developing United States. Mihm introduces readers to ordinary citizens or the antithesis to the "self-made man" who contributed to the US economy, Stephen Burroughs, a former church minister, who may have been considered one of the "fathers" of counterfeiting, Seneca Paige, the poor man's friend, Ebenezer Gleason, an illiterate farmer, and William Crane, a skilled engraver; these men as well as women who would later become involved molded an identity that had not existed before in American society that may be listed among stock market gamblers and get rich schemes (19).

However, this is not a comprehensive history, but rather a narrative that discusses the key players who attempted to succeed with the counterfeiting bubble but failed. A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS may look like a book geared toward the academic reader because of the extensive notes and acknowledgments. Nonetheless, it is indeed a page-turner that curious readers may want to read more than once. For a subject that has not been extensively written about, this book was insightful.

Stephen Mihm has formulated a fascinating hypothesis in "A Nation of Counterfeiters": that, prior to the federalization of the Mint, counterfeit money formed a sort of shadow economy that had more in common with the national economy than we might like to think. In fact, he considers counterfeiters to be among the first true American capitalists, taking "making money" to a whole new level.

For one thing, as Mihm points out, what counterfeiters and early bankers did was not all that different. Indeed, he asks, what is the difference between a counterfeiter who prints a note with no real backing in specie (gold or silver), and a bank that does the same thing? Both rely upon the trust of the consumer in order to give their notes any real monetary value. Trust is what turns ink and paper into money. What is most astonishing about Mihm's history, when you look at it that way, is that our economy ever got off the ground at all.

Mihm uses copious stories of individual bankers and counterfeiters to illustrate his points. However, while entertaining, I don't think they really provide useful evidence to back up his theory. Moreover, he relies on quantity over quality, piling on anecdotes that, while interesting, often have little to do with the point of the book. A more thorough pruning by the editor would have made for a leaner, tighter, and perhaps more convincing argument.

Nevertheless, I applaud Mihm for his original and enjoyable book. Budding economists and US History enthusiasts will love this tale of intrigue, deception, capitalism, and the alchemical desire to create wealth. I look forward to more of Mihm's work!

With so many excellent reviews posted already there is little of substance that I can add. This is a well written, engaging and well researched book on a subject that has gained extra significance with the rise of the "Ron Paul Nation".

Stephen Mihm is a breath of fresh air.

A Nation of Counterfeiters is both well documented and well written narrative history that draws the reader along to new understanding and perspective on the nation's economy and banking system in the early history of the United States. Rather than the normal economy, however, Mihm tackles the underground economy and in the process allows the reader to better understand both.

Mihm weaves a tapestry of sources to draw clearly an element of society that took great pains to go unnoticed. Using archives, newspapers, family histories, and genealogies, he paints the picture and at the same time illustrates the national situation that not only tempted but almost by default drew an element of shadow capitalists to serve not only their own needs but the needs of a cash starved society stuggling for confidence and sufficient quantity in the money supply.

Nearly every paragraph in this work has at least one source so the scholar will be able to utilize this for academic needs. Better than most books of this genre though the story reads clearly and is tightly written and flows.

I look forward to future works by Mr. Mihm. This was a pleasure to read.

5 unqualified stars!

Bart Breen

Historian Stephen Mihm examines how counterfeit currency was an essential aspect of the market economy during the post-Revolution period in the United States in his book, A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS: CAPITALISTS, CON MEN, AND THE MAKING OF THE UNITED STATES. After the enactment of the US Constitution, the Market Revolution and monetary counterfeiting helped generate an ever-growing economy during the late eighteenth century, but the latter quickly halted during US Civil War when the US government began to regulate and control the nation's monetary and banking system. Mihm suggests that markets and blossoming capitalism during the Early Republic would not have thrived without the existence of counterfeiters or "speculative capitalists," who printed and used bank notes in order to buy and sell within a thriving marketplace (16).

A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS is an innovative study and extensively researched book that elaborates on a piece of economic history during the Early Republic that derived in Canada but quickly spread through Vermont, New York, and the rest of the developing United States. Mihm introduces readers to ordinary citizens or the antithesis to the "self-made man" who contributed to the US economy, Stephen Burroughs, a former church minister, who may have been considered one of the "fathers" of counterfeiting, Seneca Paige, the poor man's friend, Ebenezer Gleason, an illiterate farmer, and William Crane, a skilled engraver; these men as well as women who would later become involved molded an identity that had not existed before in American society that may be listed among stock market gamblers and get rich schemes (19).

However, this is not a comprehensive history, but rather a narrative that discusses the key players who attempted to succeed with the counterfeiting bubble but failed. A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS may look like a book geared toward the academic reader because of the extensive notes and acknowledgments. Nonetheless, it is indeed a page-turner that curious readers may want to read more than once. For a subject that has not been extensively written about, this book was insightful.

This is a history of American paper money whose premise is that the structure that places cellulose currency at its center really has nothing propping it up but the goodwill of its printers. And when the printers multiply without control, it has nothing propping it up at all. When banks began printing their own legal tender in the mid-19th Century, this privately minted specie served a useful function in an era when the central government had no coherent monetary policy. There simply wasn't enough money going around to fuel the expansion of the nascent economy. But the privately minted currency was easily counterfeited, had no easily verified backing as to value, was susceptible to the vagaries of the economy, especially the frequent Panics that swept the banking system, and was often printed by poorly run banks. There is something extremely 'wild west' about all of this that makes for very entertaining reading. That's rare in a history book. Especially one about something as potentially dry as economic history. I enjoyed this book immensely. It is written in an informative but never boring manner. And the lessons it reveals about our currency's past reads like a horror story. Very strongly recommended

Mike Birman

Paper money has no value. You only accept it because you feel sure that the next person you offer it to will also accept it.

From 1789, when the Constitution was drafted) to the Civil War, the US had NO official paper money. Every bank had the right to print up its own paper. These started as simple notes--the bank promised to pay the holder X ounces of gold within Y days. Banks soon discovered that they could issue more paper than they had gold on hand--since not everyone would turn in the paper at the same time.

Each state was free to charter its own banks--under whatever rules the state desired. Some were extremely strict about the ration of gold on hand to paper issued; others allowed anyone with the filing fee to incorporate a bank and print "notes." We quickly had thousands of banks issuing notes of differing denominations.

In a country as large as the US, with primitive communication, it was impossible for most people to know whether the paper money they were being offered was from a real bank, was actually printed by that bank, and that the bank was actually solvent.

Add to this the fact that for much of this period, th3e U.S. and Canada were at war--either hot (War of 1812) or cold. Counterfeiting US bank notes was not a crime in Canada. The border was porous.

This state of affairs was ripe for counterfeiters. Engravers made up banks, altered "real" currency (transforming a $1 into a $100), or--my personal favorite--buying up the "real" plates of a "real" bank after it had gone belly up, and then printing "real" bank notes.

In what was then the west (now Ohio and Indiana), counterfeiters were virtually encouraged. There were no "real" banks. people needed money to make business transactions. Counterfeit bills provided readily available currency--and as long as everyone accepted them, what was the problem?

This trend toward semi-official counterfeit currency reached its climax in the Confederacy during the Civil War. Being adverse to central governments, the confederate states failed to enact a workable tax structure to finance the confederate government. It therefore financed the war largely by simply printing money with nothing to back it at all. Then, the government began to run short of paper--so it simply declared by fiat that all counterfeit currency was legal tender!

Mihm does an excellent job of laying out the fuzzy distinction between "real" and "counterfeit" money that persisted for far more of our history that I had imagined, and how counterfeit bills were, arguably, essential to the industrial expansion of the country prior to the civil war.

My only criticism is that the book could have used a better editor. Mihm spends too long on giving thumbnail sketches of endless lists of individual counterfeiters--which are impossible (at least for me) to keep straight, and which seemed to add little to his narrative--except to slow it down.

Nonetheless, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a bent for economics and wants to understand the history of money in the U.S.

The history of banks and banking in the expanding United States in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is an amazing one. As the frontier moved westward faster than anyone had anticipated, vast new lands were opened up for settlement, producing ever increasing amounts of raw goods. While these goods were valuable, in order for the transactions to be carried out, there needed to me some generally accepted medium of exchange. In other words, there needed to be an adequate supply of currency.
Many people held to the precious metal standard, where all currency was to be in the form of coinage, with the largest denominations being struck from silver or gold. There were two serious problems with this position. In the first case, there simply was not enough metal available to make the number of coins the expanding economy demanded. Therefore, the only way that adequate currency could be created was by the issuing of paper money. The second case was that there was no adequate level of central currency as the Federal government generally abrogated any responsibility to develop a sound national currency that was backed by the government and supported by strong laws that were enforced.
Given these major restrictions, free enterprise did what it will always do; it will create a set of solutions to these problems. The first was the development of local banks, started by individuals with an initial holding of secured government securities. Using this as their base, the banks would print and circulate their own currency. However, in the absence of strong government regulations of these banks, many if not most, issued currency whose value was far in excess of their ability to cover. These banks were known as "