Moneymakers: The Wicked Lives and Surprising Adventures of Three Notorious Counterfeiters

(NYTBR) ... what elevates “Moneymakers” from the novelty shelf is Tarnoff’s skillful interweaving of the counterfeiter’s work and America’s revolving enchantment with and disavowal of paper money. Alongside tales of jailbreaks and executions, he examines the nation’s changing relationship to federalism and the democratization of the means of exchange. For example, David Lewis would cheat the poor but was said to often refund their losses after a successful day of bilking the rich. This dramatic sensibility converged with the emerging Jacksonian populism, and its attendant dissatisfaction with a centralized banking authority, to fashion the counterfeiter as an American Robin Hood. Continued