The History of Gold

What if the same gold that adorned Pharaohs' tombs fueled Hitler's war machine? Or if Spanish conquistadors melted sacred Inca suns, only to trigger history's first global inflation? This book traces gold's 6,000 year saga from prehistoric riverbeds to modern financial markets, exposing its power to build temples, bankroll wars, and warp human desire across every civilization it touched. Egyptian priests called gold the flesh of the gods while pharaohs hoarded 20 ton temple treasures. Roman mines in Hispania saw 60,000 slaves die in darkness to mint aureus coins. Vikings traded golden arm rings as blood money. Mansa Musa's 1324 hajj distributed so much gold dust that Cairo's economy crashed for a decade. Aztecs ritually buried gold because they believed its spirit was alive, never to be mined. Spanish conquistadors melted it all down anyway. California's Gold Rush poisoned rivers with cyanide while moving 1.5 billion tons of earth for mere ounces. Roosevelt's 1933 executive order secretly confiscated citizens' gold. The Nazis stored looted bars in salt mines, sparking lawsuits that lasted decades.