Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, by Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1750. National Gallery, London.

Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, by Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1750. National Gallery, London.

About Money

Volume 1, Number 2 | spring 2008

Purchase

Our Robber Barons, by Bernhard Gillam, 1882.

Preamble

Holy Dread

By Lewis H. Lapham

The history of the United States is synonymous with the dream of riches, but the question as to whether money is mortal or immortal has never been resolved.

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A historical recreation of 1920s Berlin in the virtual online world Second Life by Jo Yardley.

Funny Money

By Edward Castronova

Is there really a difference between the “real” world currencies we use everyday and their funny-money alter egos used online in virtual worlds?

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Map

Perpetual Motion

Tracing the drug trade, the slave trade, and the Silk Road.

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1837 | New York City

The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

Washington Irving bursts a speculative bubble.More

1836 | Washington, DC

Antebellum Kapital

John C. Calhoun calls out the hypocrisy of the North.More

1824 | Zululand

Designer Dress

Work attire for a Zulu king.More

Charts & Graphs

The Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold

Art sold at auction.

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Black and white photograph of American author Edith Wharton.

Photograph of Vladimir Nabokov

Photograph of American writer Ralph Ellison.

Black and white engraving of Roman author Petronius.

Whoever expects to walk peacefully in the world must be money’s guest.

—Norman O. Brown, 1959

Aristotle & Jeremy Bentham

Purchase

Lapham’sDaily

Roundtable

Artful Dabs of Cheese and Unlimited Caviar

By Sharon Hudgins

What to eat—and avoid—on the Trans-Siberian Railway. More

DÉjÀ Vu

Love Is Dead

2018:

Woman announces she is divorcing her pirate ghost husband.

1926:

Man sues wife for adultery with a ghost.

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The World in Time

Joseph J. Ellis

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Joseph J. Ellis, author of American Dialogue: The Founders and Us. More

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