This was the book chosen by our newly-minted, LA-based, guys' book club, and it was well worth the overnight trip to LA to discuss it, and everything else under the sun, with George, Kevin and the two Daves.
As I somewhat ironically said to George after he picked me up at Burbank airport, I like "learning from books." What I meant is that I like learning stuff from books that are first novels, but also offer historical insights.
A Conspiracy of Paper tells the story of Benjamin Weaver, a 17th Century Portuguese Jew living in London, investigating the untimely death of his father. Set among the early days of what became the stock market, Weaver gets involved with stock-jobbers, crooks and crooked magistrates, whores and noblemen, blackguards and jackanapes.
The backdrop is the competition between the Bank of England and The South Sea Company, both aiming to be masters of the country's financial systems.
It turns out this book put into context one episode from grammar school, where we were taught about the South Sea Bubble. I never really understood that first national financial collapse until I read A Conspiracy of Paper.
One other gem: Bank notes were so called because they were literally 'notes' - contracts to pay the note holder the sum of money written into the contract or note. They were share certificates. Over the years (and after story is done), those notes became printed as currency, and for 200 years UK currency carried the words "The Bank of England promises to bay the bearer the sum of X pounds."
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