Product Description

Set in the 17th century, this is the true story of John Law, mathematical genius, duellist, inveterate gambler, womaniser and inventor of the first paper money.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223984 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 271 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In 1683, 12-year-old John Law inherited an estate from his father, an Edinburgh goldsmith. Within a few years, the young Law was enjoying London's highlife and paying the price, with his legacy quickly running low. His solution? Learn how to gamble scientifically. This he did with startling thoroughness, visiting Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Venice, Genoa; learning their economic systems and en route gaining a reputation as a state-of-the-art Enlightenment cad--liaisons, duelling, haute couture and, of course, the cards. His success in bluffing and bargaining at the card table put another idea in his head: why should banks issue paper money, to combat the endemic, persistent need for gold and silver? After persuading Louis XV, Law introduced this system to a private bank in France; his success grew with the first multinational trading company, the Mississippi. But, of course, with every boom there's a crash , and Law's had been the mother of all booms.

With her previous book, the best selling The Arcanum, antiques expert Janet Gleeson proved that she had an eye for a good story, and a real flair for telling it clearly and economically. And The Moneymaker is a good story, well told, of modern banking's debt to the skill of the professional gambler. Understandably, there¹s some simplification of the status of money in the 17th and 18th centuries--a time when many people were still quite happy with mutually reciprocal credit arrangements--but in some ways, Gleeson goes beyond simply recreating the ostensible period of the book. Law's life has been told many times since the first biography in 1721; Gleeson's skill here is to realise its importance today, and to suggest its modern resonances-- as currencies disappear and markets crash with alarming regularity--without ever hammering them home. It's a fascinating tale. --Alan Stewart

From the Back Cover
Three centuries ago, in most Western countries, wealth was stored and exchanged in the form of gold and silver coins, and there was rarely enough of it to finance the extravagances of kings, let alone the expansion of industry and trade.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century a remarkable figure stepped onto the stage of world financial history. He was John Law, an Edinburgh Scot of striking appearance and charismatic personality with a mathematical gift amounting to genius, which he parlayed into a fortune from gambling on his travels around Europe. He had more than one motive for travel: he had eloped with another man's wife, and he had narrowly escaped execution after killing a man in a duel.

John Law arrived in Paris with an idea. If money were lent in the form of paper, properly backed by assets, then the same money could be lent several times over. Multiplied credit could be used to multiply opportunities for the making of money; finance capitalism could be born. In the teeth of opposition from powerful vested interests, Law won royal backing to set up the first French bank to issue paper currency. In addition he created a gigantic trading company whose assets would lie across the Atlantic Ocean and whose profits were to enrich shareholders beyond their wildest dreams. Their wealth was such that the word 'millionaire' was coined to describe them.

What followed was epic drama; fortunes were made and lost, paupers grew rich and lords fell into penury, a new philosophia fiscalis was born. The eighteenth-century innovations of John Law were to predict the credit economy we all take for granted today. In Janet Gleeson's enthralling tragi-comic story there are two great characters: John Law, with his complex personality and inscrutable motives; and money itself, which has has such a huge influence on history, and whose true nature to this day remains elusive.

About the Author
Janet Gleeson
Janet Gleeson was born in Sri Lanka, where her father was a tea planter. After taking a degree in History of Art and English she joined Sotheby's, and later worked for Bonhams Auctioneers. In 1991 she joined Reed Books, where she was responsible for devising and writing Miller's Antiques and Collectibles. She is the author of the Sunday Times non-fiction bestsellers The Arcanum and The Moneymaker. Her first novel, The Grenadillo Box was published to universal critical acclaim. Janet Gleeson lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Con Man, Compulsive Gambler, or Useful Visionary?
Based on this biography of John Law, the real character of the man remains somewhat murky. While this book tells us a lot about the effects he created on the lives of others, what other people had to say about him, and what his environment was like, we get a limited sense of the man himself. Little is recorded of his writing or conversations in this book. In this sense, he reminds me a little of Howard Hughes who also had many visionary elements (in developing technology), spectacular failures (the Spruce Goose), and preferences for beautiful women (especially movie actresses).

What is most clear is that John Law made both his successes and his failures through his persuasiveness (he sought the ear of powerful people, not the other way around) and his personality faults (he was clearly reckless in many ways -- killing a man in a duel, pushing the implementation of his financial schemes too aggressively, and being very friendly with married ladies). The book seems to gloss over what it says about John Law that his administration as finance minister in France was almost deliberately harmful in some cases (sending people by force to Louisiana after it was known that a high percentage of the people sent there died of disease, publishing glowing reports based on no shred of reality about Louisiana to encourage investments, and going along with printing vastly too much paper currency knowing that this would backfire).

For a man who came from a Scottish family of clerics, he was amazingly immoral. The ideas he advanced about paper money were pretty simply based on the earlier successful development of such bank-based currency in England. The Mississippi Company scheme was not too much different from an earlier one that had almost bankrupted Scotland involving Panama.

Although much is made in the book about him learning the laws of statistics so he could make the odds run in his favor, he clearly took outlandish risks throughout his life. Outside of card games, he seemed to ignore statistics.

I see the man through this book more as sinner than saint. Clearly, his concepts would have eventually been used in France. Perhaps pushed by a more responsible person, these concepts would have worked and France would have had better economic development in the 18th century. Perhaps visionary con man is the right appellation. You'll have to read the book and decide for yourself.

Clearly, he got his just deserts because he died penniless in terms of cash, and hounded by his enemies.

Overcome your misconception that every pioneer is a great woman or man by learning about John Law. Sometimes, they were just one of the first. When the history of the early Internet age is written in a few years, who will be our John Law? Think about it! Your answer may save (or even make) you a fortune!

We can all learn from history... Excellent read!
In this book Janet Gleeson shows us that human nature has not changed at all in the last 2 centuries.

This history of John Law and his financial exploits in France during the rule of the Regent (Duc d'Orleans)is an excellent read.

It shows us that peopleare always looking for a quick profit and that thiscan have a devastating effect on whole countries when this greed gets out of hand.

An excellent read for anyone who thought that the tech stock boom was risiculous!

Neither one thing or another
John Law is a remarkable character - I'm surprised there aren't more "popular" books about him. Unfortunately this wasn't a historical novel or a history book. It was rather a hybrid and didn't really work as such.

One of the earlier reviewers says that Janet Gleeson was in love with John Law and I have to say I agree.

I'd read the book if I needed a light insight into John Law and his contribution to the money system but I probably wouldn't read another Janet Gleeson book.