All That Glittered
Britain's Most Precious Metal from Adam Smith to the Gold Rush
Seiten
2019
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-060351-9 (ISBN)
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
978-0-19-060351-9 (ISBN)
A wide ranging work that brings together the intellectual, cultural, political and economic history of gold in modern British history and its interaction with the world.
During the century after 1750, Great Britain absorbed much of the world's supply of gold into its pockets, cupboards, and coffers when it became the only major country to adopt the gold standard as the sole basis of its currency. Over the same period, the nation's emergence was marked by a powerful combination of Protestantism, commerce, and military might, alongside preservation of its older social hierarchy.
In this rich and broad-ranging work, Timothy Alborn argues for a close connection between gold and Britain's national identity. Beginning with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which validated Britain's position as an economic powerhouse, and running through the mid-nineteenth century gold rushes in California and Australia, Alborn draws on contemporary descriptions of gold's value to highlight its role in financial, political, and cultural realms. He begins by narrating British interests in gold mining globally to enable the smooth operation of the gold standard. In addition to explaining the metal's function in finance, he explores its uses in war expenditure, foreign trade, religious observance, and ornamentation at home and abroad. Britons criticized foreign cultures for their wasteful and inappropriate uses of gold, even as it became a prominent symbol of status in more traditional features of British society, including its royal family, aristocracy, and military. Although Britain had been ambivalent in its embrace of gold, ultimately it enabled the nation to become the world's most modern economy and to extend its imperial reach around the globe.
All That Glittered tells the story of gold as both a marker of value and a valuable commodity, while providing a new window onto Britain's ascendance after the 1750s.
During the century after 1750, Great Britain absorbed much of the world's supply of gold into its pockets, cupboards, and coffers when it became the only major country to adopt the gold standard as the sole basis of its currency. Over the same period, the nation's emergence was marked by a powerful combination of Protestantism, commerce, and military might, alongside preservation of its older social hierarchy.
In this rich and broad-ranging work, Timothy Alborn argues for a close connection between gold and Britain's national identity. Beginning with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, which validated Britain's position as an economic powerhouse, and running through the mid-nineteenth century gold rushes in California and Australia, Alborn draws on contemporary descriptions of gold's value to highlight its role in financial, political, and cultural realms. He begins by narrating British interests in gold mining globally to enable the smooth operation of the gold standard. In addition to explaining the metal's function in finance, he explores its uses in war expenditure, foreign trade, religious observance, and ornamentation at home and abroad. Britons criticized foreign cultures for their wasteful and inappropriate uses of gold, even as it became a prominent symbol of status in more traditional features of British society, including its royal family, aristocracy, and military. Although Britain had been ambivalent in its embrace of gold, ultimately it enabled the nation to become the world's most modern economy and to extend its imperial reach around the globe.
All That Glittered tells the story of gold as both a marker of value and a valuable commodity, while providing a new window onto Britain's ascendance after the 1750s.
Timothy Alborn is Professor of History at Lehman College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. He is the author of Conceiving Companies: Joint-Stock Politics in Victorian England and Regulated Lives: Life Insurance and British Society, 1800-1914.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Domestication
Chapter 2: Value
Chapter 3: War
Chapter 4: Trade
Chapter 5: Coinages
Chapter 6: Distinction
Chapter 7: Display
Chapter 8: Devotion
Chapter 9: Graven Images
Chapter 10: Before the Gold Rush
Conclusion
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
Erscheinungsdatum | 06.09.2019 |
---|---|
Zusatzinfo | 22 halftones |
Verlagsort | New York |
Sprache | englisch |
Maße | 236 x 163 mm |
Gewicht | 522 g |
Themenwelt | Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Neuzeit (bis 1918) |
Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte | |
Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte | |
ISBN-10 | 0-19-060351-8 / 0190603518 |
ISBN-13 | 978-0-19-060351-9 / 9780190603519 |
Zustand | Neuware |
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
aus dem Bereich
Europa 1848/49 und der Kampf für eine neue Welt
Buch | Hardcover (2023)
DVA (Verlag)
48,00 €
Giordano Bruno - ein ketzerisches Leben
Buch | Hardcover (2024)
C.H.Beck (Verlag)
29,90 €
Kunst und Gesellschaft an der Schwelle zur globalen Welt
Buch | Hardcover (2024)
Klett-Cotta (Verlag)
42,00 €