Why the gold standard is due for a comeback A reserve currency can only function as such if there is a general consensus that it provides a stable store of value. Without this trust, money, no matter what form it takes, will be abandoned—either suddenly in a crisis, or gradually over time—in favor of something else. The Golden Revolution looks at how the world is rapidly moving toward some form of global metallic standard, in which money, at least in official, international transactions, is linked directly to gold, silver, or both. The practical reality of the transition to the coming global gold (or bimetallic) standard is going to be substantially different from the global fiat monetary and financial regime of today. It is not just money that is going to change. The nature and business of banking will also be affected, as will finance in general. Incisive and thoughtful, The Golden Revolution is a treatise on the broad effects of the current and future monetary structure Looks at why the world is headed inexorably back towards a metallic money standard Explores what the transition period might look like, including some historical examples of both orderly and disorderly transitions Examines how the world of banking, finance, and investment, including asset valuation and portfolio management techniques, will work under a future gold standard and which industries, countries and markets are likely to benefit and which are likely to suffer Full of advice on how investors can profit and protect themselves during this critical time of change, the book knows that those who are prepared will prosper, while those who won't stand to lose it all.

Why the gold standard is due for a comeback A reserve currency can only function as such if there is a general consensus that it provides a stable store of value. Without this trust, money, no matter what form it takes, will be abandoned—either suddenly in a crisis, or gradually over time—in favor of something else. The Golden Revolution looks at how the world is rapidly moving toward some form of global metallic standard, in which money, at least in official, international transactions, is linked directly to gold, silver, or both. The practical reality of the transition to the coming global gold (or bimetallic) standard is going to be substantially different from the global fiat monetary and financial regime of today. It is not just money that is going to change. The nature and business of banking will also be affected, as will finance in general. Incisive and thoughtful, The Golden Revolution is a treatise on the broad effects of the current and future monetary structure Looks at why the world is headed inexorably back towards a metallic money standard Explores what the transition period might look like, including some historical examples of both orderly and disorderly transitions Examines how the world of banking, finance, and investment, including asset valuation and portfolio management techniques, will work under a future gold standard and which industries, countries and markets are likely to benefit and which are likely to suffer Full of advice on how investors can profit and protect themselves during this critical time of change, the book knows that those who are prepared will prosper, while those who won't stand to lose it all.

The protracted global financial crisis and perceived rise in economic inequality has awakened the long-dormant debate as to whether the international monetary system is in need of fundamental reform. While not surprising given that there is now general agreement that excessive money and credit growth played a key role in the near collapse of the global financial system in 2008, John Butler makes a compelling case in this book that the only way to place the global economy back on the path of sustainable economic growth and to reverse the trend towards inequality is to remonetize gold. Already there are a number of major countries expressing concern about the stability of the existing monetary order. And concern is increasingly giving way to action. As the dollar′s international reserve role gradually declines and more trade is conducted in other currencies, global monetary arrangements are likely to become increasingly multipolar. As there is no single national currency that can realistically replace the dollar as the preeminent global monetary reserve, gold will re-emerge as the preferred international money. As students of economic history will note, it was precisely a multipolar world amid rapidly growing international trade that ushered in the classical gold standard in the 1870s. The world′s 40-year experiment with purely unbacked fiat currencies is thus rapidly approaching its conclusion. This book, however, goes much farther than predict a return to gold. It explores just what the transition might look like, including both orderly and disorderly scenarios and drawing on historical examples where relevant. It considers to what extent the price of gold will likely rise as it becomes remonetized. It surveys and evaluates recent developments in financial technology, including bitcoin, blockchain and digital gold. Most important, it prepares the reader with practical investment advice for a world of gold or gold-backed money, including thoughts on interest rates, exchange rates, credit spreads, equity market valuations, and risk premia for assets in general. Thus John Butler provides not only a compelling vision of the future, but also a detailed road map for navigating what is likely to be the most challenging investment landscape in generations

Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital presents a novel interpretation of the good and bad times in the economy, taking a long-term perspective and linking technology and finance in an original and convincing way.

"Accompanies the exhibition of the same name: Museum Rietberg Zürich, 15 February to 16 June 2013".-- National Library of Canada.

Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2003), and the only Iranian to receive a Nobel Prize in any field, releases a new memoir in April 2011 entitled The Golden Cage: Three Brothers, Three Choices, One Destiny. The book is a fascinating, contemporary autobiographical story of how Iran came to be the nation it is today. The timeliness of her writing is all the more important with daily breaking news of democracy arising in the region. As she says of her new publication, “History is best described through life stories that are told in simple ways by appealing to what human beings hold in common, the love of life and country.” She is a remarkable woman because of her keen intellect, but even more so because of her inbred commitment to, and understanding of, egalitarianism. It is honest to interpret this to mean she is a fierce advocate for women's and children's rights. In addition to focusing on bringing democracy to Iran, she is a visionary in having foreseen what we are now witnessing in the Middle East and foreseeing the same to be inevitable throughout the world for all dictatorships. Dr. Ebadi attributes this in part to the spread of technology, which allows those imprisoned by governments to see how the free world lives. Naturally, the oppressed choose free will. She also believes the innate human spirit to be a driving force behind the inevitability of democracies. Of central importance in Dr. Ebadi's message about Iran and Islam is that she is a moderate. She believes Islam and democracy are compatible. Dr. Ebadi loves peace and abhors violence. In between those two ends, lays a middle ground in which she deftly works to persuade world leaders and the world population to better understand her homeland. A place where she describes the people as a simmering kettle -- bubbling to the top is her voice and those of others calling for Iran's democratization. Clearly this has made her an enemy of the current Iranian regime. She was out of the country when those ruling Iran further attacked in June 2009, compelling her to begin a life in exile. She would face certain arrest and imprisonment were she to return home. For now, she believes it is best to remain living in exile and to continue speaking out around the world, advocating peacefully for all people to be free from oppression. Her new book, The Golden Cage, and companion public speaking itinerary, are crucial parts of her plan.

Many books chronicle the remarkable life of Russian tsar Peter the Great, but none analyze how his famous reforms actually took root and spread in Russia. By century's end, Russia was poised to play a critical role in the Napoleonic wars and boasted an elite culture about to burst into its golden age. In The Revolution of Peter the Great, James Cracraft offers a brilliant new interpretation of this pivotal era.

A phenomenal account, newly updated, of how twelve innovative television dramas transformed the medium and the culture at large, featuring Sepinwall’s take on the finales of Mad Men and Breaking Bad. In The Revolution Was Televised, celebrated TV critic Alan Sepinwall chronicles the remarkable transformation of the small screen over the past fifteen years. Focusing on twelve innovative television dramas that changed the medium and the culture at large forever, including The Sopranos, Oz, The Wire, Deadwood, The Shield, Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, Sepinwall weaves his trademark incisive criticism with highly entertaining reporting about the real-life characters and conflicts behind the scenes. Drawing on interviews with writers David Chase, David Simon, David Milch, Joel Surnow and Howard Gordon, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and Vince Gilligan, among others, along with the network executives responsible for green-lighting these groundbreaking shows, The Revolution Was Televised is the story of a new golden age in TV, one that’s as rich with drama and thrills as the very shows themselves.

From the bestselling authors of The Right Nation, a visionary argument that our current crisis in government is nothing less than the fourth radical transition in the history of the nation-state Dysfunctional government: It’s become a cliché, and most of us are resigned to the fact that nothing is ever going to change. As John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge show us, that is a seriously limited view of things. In fact, there have been three great revolutions in government in the history of the modern world. The West has led these revolutions, but now we are in the midst of a fourth revolution, and it is Western government that is in danger of being left behind. Now, things really are different. The West’s debt load is unsustainable. The developing world has harvested the low-hanging fruits. Industrialization has transformed all the peasant economies it had left to transform, and the toxic side effects of rapid developing world growth are adding to the bill. From Washington to Detroit, from Brasilia to New Delhi, there is a dual crisis of political legitimacy and political effectiveness. The Fourth Revolution crystallizes the scope of the crisis and points forward to our future. The authors enjoy extraordinary access to influential figures and forces the world over, and the book is a global tour of the innovators in how power is to be wielded. The age of big government is over; the age of smart government has begun. Many of the ideas the authors discuss seem outlandish now, but the center of gravity is moving quickly. This tour drives home a powerful argument: that countries’ success depends overwhelmingly on their ability to reinvent the state. And that much of the West—and particularly the United States—is failing badly in its task. China is making rapid progress with government reform at the same time as America is falling badly behind. Washington is gridlocked, and America is in danger of squandering its huge advantages from its powerful economy because of failing government. And flailing democracies like India look enviously at China’s state-of-the-art airports and expanding universities. The race to get government right is not just a race of efficiency. It is a race to see which political values will triumph in the twenty-first century—the liberal values of democracy and liberty or the authoritarian values of command and control. The stakes could not be higher.