The author does an excellent analysis of the British intent to destroy America's fledgling financial dreams of a money system for the people and created by the people. Through its agents of Jay Cooke & Co., the Rothschilds and the traitorous Senator from Ohio John Sherman (brother of Gen. Wm. T. Sherman) the rise of the national banks and their sole intent to destroy the Constitution by controlling and regulating the supply and value of the country's money. Drawing on numerous 'hidden' sources -- memos, letters, etc. -- the book describes exceedingly well the worst in political and financial corruption encountered in the 19th Century.

This book explains the dialectics of money power eloquently and scholarly. Concentrating mainly on the 19th Century (it is a little weak on the Hamilton, Jefferson and Morris discussions first exposing the differences in financial power prior to 1792 and the discussions in determing what a dollar or 'unit' consists) nevertheless, it rightfully places Andrew Jackson as perhaps the greatest president in exposing the corruption of the (Second) Bank of the United States and the seditious acts of those associated with it (or instance its president Nicholas Biddle, et al.) and most importantly, providing the clarion warning call to all 19th, 20th and 21st Century sons of liberty that giving away the people's control of the money system is the primary constitutional threat to sovereignty this country faces.

The state banking era (1837 to 1862) however is not properly addressed (perhaps the author believed this was the era in which decentralized banking practices were in accord with the intent of those who framed the Constitution -- we will never know), and neither is there a full expose of those individual interests in forming the power basis of national banks with the exception of the secret meetings of John Sherman (in 1867) with British financiers. Obviously, at the time the book was written, the national banks had completely corrupted the financial system to the point where so much of the system's weaknesses were blatantly noticable by all (debters and creditors alike) but those very few who derived maximum benefit. The state banking era was but a temporary memory between the interlude between the collapse of the corrupt (second) Bank of the US and the rise of the corrupt national banking system (which was in guise a reincarnation at a tempt at a central banking system -- the National Banking Association in NY called the shots much like today's Fed. Res. system).

The 1862 to 1875 period is rightfully exposed as the most politically and financially corrupt period of the national banking era. Until 1873 gold and silver bullion was freely coined into money on account of the depositer at the mint, thereafter, on the account of the US Treasury. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the congressional passage of the Act of Feb. 12, 1873 is exposed and evidence is presented on why so many in Congress changed their voting records to promote passage of this act. Furthermore, the big mystery of why the silver dollar was deleted from the list of coins to be made on the final draft of the bill remains today. The effects of this would shape the debate between the silver and gold interests until 1900. Thereby, 1873 is rightfully exposed by the author as the last year the US could be a creditor nation, thereafter it was indebted to those interests who controlled politics and finances. With most of the later quarter of the 19th century the moneyed interests attempted to destroy the greenbacks (Resumption Act of 1875) and government financial instruments in hopes to promoting a debt based financial system where the money does not belong to the people but must be had through the banks at high rates of interest.

To a great extent the national banking system brought about a system that succeeded in creating a central banking power controlling the political and financial system in the country. While the forms change with time, legal prowess and the vagaries of the Supreme Court, the insidious greed of the heart finds new modes of concentrating money and power.

In summation, the book is an excellent scholarly written overview on the rise of the banking system of this country. Numismatic researchers of both coin and financial paper too will find it highly rewarding. It is highly recommended.