In early 2001, Professor Rollie Marclay stumbles on troubling information about his father, Jacob, a soldier in the Pacific during World War II. A matter of national security brings Rollies faith to the brink as he discovers the truth about his fathers relationship to a girl named Alaya. Retracing his fathers footstepsfrom his time in the war to the years up to and after his fathers deathleads Rollie to face issues dealing with deception both in marriage and in friendship. Rollies infidelity lends itself to lessons of forgiveness and healing when the marriage bond is breached. Rollies search leads him to a better understanding of his fathers motives; a search unveiling two unlikely friends, a Japanese soldier and a Filipino native, each who dedicated themselves to live their Christian faith in the midst of a world war.

This book studies the so far unexplored operation of the international monetary system that prevailed before the emergence of the international gold standard in 1873. Conventional wisdom has it that the emergence of gold as a global anchor was both an inescapable and desirable evolution, given the exchange rate stability it provided and Britain's economic predominance. This study draws on a wealth of archival sources and abundant new statistical evidence (fully detailed in the appendix) to demonstrate that global exchange rate stability always prevailed before the making of the gold standard. This was despite the heterogeneity among national monetary regimes, based on gold, silver, or both. The reason for the stability before the establishment of the gold standard is France's bimetallic system. France, by being in a position to trade gold for silver, and vice versa, effectively pegged the exchange rate between gold and silver at its legal ratio of 15.5. Part I of the book studies exactly how this mechanism worked. Part II focuses on the respective behaviour of private concerns and arbitrageurs on the one hand, and authorities such as the Bank of France on the other hand, in order to underline the constraints and opportunities that were associated with bimetallism as an international regime. Finally, Part III provides a new view on the collapse of bimetallism and its replacement by a gold standard. It is argued that bimetallism might well have survived, and that the emergence of the gold standard was by no means inescapable. Rather, it resulted from a massive coordination failure at both national and international levels - a failure that was a preview of the interwar collapse of the gold standard.

class I. Foreign relations. 6 v. 1st Cong.-20th Cong., 1st sess., April 30, 1789-May 24, 1828.--class II. Indian affairs. 2 v. 1st Cong.-19th Cong., May 25, 1789-March 1, 1827.--class III. Finance. 5 v. 1st Cong.-20th Cong., 1st sess., April 11, 1789-May 16, 1828.--class IV. Commerce and navigation. 2 v. 1st Cong.-17th Cong., April 13, 1789-Feb. 25, 1823.--Class V. Military affairs. 7 v. 1st Cong.-25th Cong., 2d sess., Aug. 10, 1789-March 1, 1838.--class VI. Naval affairs. 4 v. 3d Cong.-24th Cong., 1st sess., Jan 20, 1794-June 15, 1836.--class VII. Postoffice department. 1 v. 1st Cong., 2d sess.-22d Cong., Jan. 22, 1790-Feb. 21, 1833.--class VIII. Public lands. 8 v. 1st Cong.-24th Cong., July 1, 1790-Feb. 28, 1837.--class IX. Claims. 1 v. 1st Cong., 2d sess.-17th Cong., Feb. 5, 1790-March 3, 1823.--class X. Miscellaneous. 2 v. 1st Cong.-17th Cong., April 17, 1789-March 3, 1823.