King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World’s Dominant Currency

Details
For this meeting, we’ll be discussing Paul Blustein’s King Dollar: The Past and Future of the World’s Dominant Currency. A deeply reported and surprisingly readable history of how the U.S. dollar became the world’s most powerful financial weapon—and whether its dominance is sustainable.

The book is 320 pages long. The audiobook version is 12 hours and 42 minutes.

If you don’t think you’ll have time to read the book, but still want to join the discussion, you can watch this interview with the author.

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Book Description
King Dollar chronicles the extraordinary rise of the U.S. dollar to its current status as the world’s preeminent currency—and the mounting challenges it faces in the 21st century. Veteran journalist Paul Blustein traces how the dollar came to dominate global finance after World War II, weathering crises from Nixon’s gold shock to the Great Recession. Along the way, he introduces the economists, policymakers, and power players who shaped monetary policy and enforced dollar hegemony.

Blustein also examines the growing backlash—from China’s ambitions to dedollarize trade to the potential threat of digital currencies. With sharp insight and crisp storytelling, King Dollar raises provocative questions about the future of global finance—and America’s place in it.