Author, Frederick Kaufman discusses his recently published book, The Money Plot: A History of Currency's Power to Enchant, Control, and Manipulate. It is a scintillating, controversial history delving into the past 65,000 years to demystify the concept of money, reminding us that in the end, money in all its forms is just a fiction. Referencing everything from Bachelier’s The Theory of Speculation and Sir Isaac Newton to Kim Kardashian’s Instagram account and the Planet of the Apes movies, and with the same ease that Salt: A World History and Freakonomics condensed thousands of years of history into a highly informative yet entertaining format, The Money Plot explains how money was created, used, and got its modern-day makeup.

Frederick Kaufman, an English professor by training and profession, has for the past decade focused his attention on the fiction that is money. His unorthodox insights into the ways of Wall Street have resulted in numerous magazine articles for publications ranging from Scientific American to Wired to Foreign Policy to Harper's, as well as television appearances on NBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business Network and Democracy Now! and invitations to lecture in both the United States and Europe, including an address to the General Assembly of the United Nations. This is his fourth book.

The Money Plot: A History of Currency's Power to Enchant, Control and Manipulate with Frederick Kaufman