Overview

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the price of gold has skyrocketed--in three years, it has more than doubled from $800 an ounce to $1,900. This massive spike kicked off an unprecedented global gold-mining and exploration boom, much bigger than the Gold Rush of the 1800s. In Gold, acclaimed author Matthew Hart takes you on an unforgettable journey around the world and through history to tell the incredible story of how gold became the world's most precious commodity. Beginning with a dispatch from the crime-ridden, dangerous inferno of the world's deepest mine, Hart pulls back to survey gold's tempestuous past. From the earliest civilizations--6,000 years ago, when gold was an icon of sacred and kingly power--Hart tracks its evolution, through conquest, murder, and international mayhem, into the speculative casino-chip that the metal has become. On this spellbinding journey, you will witness the Spanish plunder of the New World, a century of pillage that crushed the glittering Inca empire of the Andes and transferred its staggering wealth to Europe. Hart describes each boom and bust in gold's long story, each panic and shock, with a masterful storytelling hand, leading up to the present day--to the London vaults that hold the multi-ton hoards of such shadowy investors as the American gold fund called the Spider, to the amazing gold-rich bamboo forests of eastern Senegal, and to the piratical carnival of theft that enlivens the world's greatest gold-producing engine: China. With writing described by Publishers Weekly as polished and fiery, Hart weaves together history and cutthroat economics to reveal the human dramas that have driven our lust for a precious yellow metal.

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"David Drummond's narration adds to the intrigue with a deep, reverberating voice that grabs listeners' attention.-- ""AudioFile"""

Author Information

Matthew Hart is a veteran writer and journalist, and the author of several books, including the award-winning Diamond. His work has appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Granta, the London Times, and the Financial Post. He was a contributing editor of the New York trade magazine Rapaport Diamond Report, and he has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN, and the National Geographic Channel. Matthew lives in New York City. David Drummond has made his living as an actor for over twenty-five years, appearing on stages large and small throughout the country and in Seattle, Washington, his hometown. He has narrated over thirty audiobooks, in genres ranging from current political commentary to historical nonfiction, fantasy, military, thrillers, and humor. He received an AudioFile Earphones Award for his first audiobook, Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay. When not narrating, he keeps busy writing plays and stories for children.

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