Money Is a Dangerous Weapon

By Victoria Tirrel, Library Committee

Imagine you had the know-how to bring down a vicious war machine by crashing its economy. That’s just what happens in the work of historical fiction I recently checked out of the Coffman Library--Wealth of Shadows by Graham Moore.

​This engaging tale is based on the true story of Ansel Luxford of St. Paul, a tax attorney in 1939 who is troubled by the Nazis he sees marching in formation through St. Paul’s streets and by news that Hitler’s forces are poised at Poland’s border. But what can he do? Turns out, a lot.

​Luxford is recruited to join a secret program of the US Treasury Department designed to wage economic warfare while the nation stays officially neutral. Once in DC, Luxford's wife snags a job as a secretary at the FBI. Angela does her own bit for the war effort when she’s assigned to a task force charged with seeking out spies that may have infiltrated…you guessed it…the US Treasury Department!

The book is full of historical figures of the time—President Roosevelt, of course, but also the economist John Maynard Keynes (and his Russian ballerina wife, the lovely but shocking Lydia Lopokova) and financier J.P. Morgan. Playing master puppeteer is economist Harry Dexter White, an archrival of Keynes.

Despite being married to an economist and being pretty good at money management, I don’t really understand financial systems very well. But I loved this story and learned a lot. The book takes us into WWII from another perspective and, late in the war, leads us to historic Bretton Woods, where world leaders remake the money system so countries can survive and recover in a much-changed, post-war world economy.

​Wealth of Shadows is a twisting story well-told and supported by an astonishing 10-page Author Note that details what’s truth and what’s fiction chapter by chapter. Highly recommended!!!

When not checked out, you'll find Wealth of Shadows in the Fiction section under Moore.