Rating: 
Summary: A Gem
Review: "What Has Government Done to Our Money" is an excellent introduction to the consistent libertarian view of money; namely, that government need not intervene in a nation's monetary life at all (either by printing money or regulating banks). In a relatively short number of pages, Rothbard explains money, inflation, banking, and the history of monetary policy. Rothbard notes that the dream of the banksters is a single currency that can be inflated at will. With the rise of the EU and the Euro, we are getting closer to that day.Don't stop with this book -- be sure to get Rothbard's "A History of Money and Banking in the US" and also "The Mystery of Banking."
Rating:
Summary: A Gem
Review: "What Has Government Done to Our Money" is an excellent introduction to the consistent libertarian view of money; namely, that government need not intervene in a nation's monetary life at all (either by printing money or regulating banks). In a relatively short number of pages, Rothbard explains money, inflation, banking, and the history of monetary policy. Rothbard notes that the dream of the banksters is a single currency that can be inflated at will. With the rise of the EU and the Euro, we are getting closer to that day. Don't stop with this book -- be sure to get Rothbard's "A History of Money and Banking in the US" and also "The Mystery of Banking."
Rating: 
Summary: Factual account of a history of money.
Review: I am relatively new to the written word of libertarianism, but have been there in theory and practice for quite some time. That set aside, this short, yet informative, book will give ANY reader looking for an account of the history of money all they would need and then some. I was very pleased with the content of this book. It first explains how money came to be, and then, expands on how it has progressed to it's frail existence today. However, the primary focus is how government intentionally inflates money through various interventions. It also explains how things could be drastically different with money back on the gold standard and untouched by regulations. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their knowledge on the history and workings of the monetary system.
Rating: 
Summary: Propagandistic representation of important ideas
Review: I call myself a quasi-libertarian. I agree with all libertarian principles, but I would not go as far as a typical libertarian renouncing government and its institutions. While I sympathize with Mr. Rothbard's affection for the gold standard, I would not go as far as he does picturing everything else as a criminal activity.
Just like his book on education, "What has government done to our money" is mostly propaganda. We are all victims of a horrendous conspiracy. The `government' is out there to screw us. Forget about the fact that we elected them; forget about the fact that they are us.
The only value of this book is the historical account it gives of the process that took us away from the gold standard. It is not a very good account, mind you; I would expect something more analytical, more detailed and less biased.
If you need an introduction to the libertarian approach to monetary policy, read this book. If you need a broader understanding of the subject, find something better.
Rating:
Summary: A concise wake-up call for fiscal responsibility
Review: I know what you're thinking: "Wow, a book on the finer points of monetary policy and its geopolitical legacies throughout history....my eyelids are getting heavy already..." You may not, however, get to sleep too quickly afterward as a result of this book-it's too short and well-written for that. Plus, the implications of a collapse in the value of the dollar and having all of your life savings being worth a medium-sized Pepsi at Burger King is not all that comforting, either. While the furor over money and its value has died down considerably since the 1970s, Inflation, unfathomable amounts of government debt, and ever increasing amounts of spending on all fronts means that asking "where did the money go?" will not soon go out of style.
Murray Rothbard, one of the most influential economists of the late 20th century, wrote this book-essentially a glorified policy memo (read: Math-free reading)-at the end of the 1970s, when America was in the final stages of the most devastating period of inflation in its history. His book, "What Has Government Done to Our Money?", talks about what money is and can be, the ways in which currency REALLY works, why more "money" in everybody's pocket really isn't "more money", and how almost all of any government intervention into the realm of the worth of money makes things worse instead of better. And just when you wonder about how any of this applies to the real world, it charts a course from the Worldwide Gold Standard years of end of the 19th century up through the late 1970s. He looks at how great coutries like America, Great Britain, and others almost bakrupted themselves and their citizens through ignorant and irresponsible policies regarding their respective currencies. Through it all, he makes continuous and well-thought-out arguments for a standard of exchange based on an outside measure of value-gold-and pleas for governments of all kinds to exercise financial restraint.
If you ever wondered about why prices keep going up, if you ever wondered why cars don't cost $2,000 anymore, if you asked questions like this and never thought you were getting a full answer, this is the book you need to read. You may never look at money the same way again, and you'll probably be richer for it, too.
Rating:
Summary: A concise wake-up call for fiscal responsibility
Review: I know what you're thinking: "Wow, a book on the finer points of monetary policy and its geopolitical legacies throughout history....my eyelids are getting heavy already..." You may not, however, get to sleep too quickly afterward as a result of this book-it's too short and well-written for that. Plus, the implications of a collapse in the value of the dollar and having all of your life savings being worth a medium-sized Pepsi at Burger King is not all that comforting, either. While the furor over money and its value has died down considerably since the 1970s, Inflation, unfathomable amounts of government debt, and ever increasing amounts of spending on all fronts means that asking "where did the money go?" will not soon go out of style.
Murray Rothbard, one of the most influential economists of the late 20th century, wrote this book-essentially a glorified policy memo (read: Math-free reading)-at the end of the 1970s, when America was in the final stages of the most devastating period of inflation in its history. His book, "What Has Government Done to Our Money?", talks about what money is and can be, the ways in which currency REALLY works, why more "money" in everybody's pocket really isn't "more money", and how almost all of any government intervention into the realm of the worth of money makes things worse instead of better. And just when you wonder about how any of this applies to the real world, it charts a course from the Worldwide Gold Standard years at the end of the 19th century up through the late 1970s. He looks at how great coutries like America, Great Britain, and others almost bakrupted themselves and their citizens through ignorant and irresponsible policies regarding their respective currencies. Through it all, he makes continuous and well-thought-out arguments for a standard of exchange based on an outside measure of value-gold-and pleas for governments of all kinds to exercise financial restraint.
If you ever wondered about why prices keep going up, if you ever wondered why cars don't cost $2,000 anymore, if you asked questions like this and never thought you were getting a full answer, this is the book you need to read. You may never look at money the same way again, and you'll probably be richer for it, too.
Rating:
Summary: Best Little Book on Money You'll Ever Read!
Review: I own several copies of this book. I have also written a study guide for it, with key included, that contains multiple-choice and short answer questions. The positive reviews of this book are all right on the mark. I can hardly add to them. As for the negative reviews, note that Brazilian doesn't support his contention at all and the Australian resorts to an appeal to authority, one of the weakest of all types of argument. This book is a classic gem!
Rating:
Summary: Must Read!
Review: I teach a one-quarter course in economic principles, and I always use this wonderful little book for a portion of it. Although the book is not very long, and Rothbard's style is extremely readable, he packs a lot of information and perspective into it. My students have an overall high opinion of this book (and the predictable low opinion of the main text book). No previous background or knowledge of money, monetary history, or economics is required to read and understand this great work. Rothbard starts in a "Robinson Crusoe" world, that is, a world in which Crusoe is the only person. He then adds more people, and shows how money arises, and exactly what money is (and what it is NOT!). I not only highly recommend it, I REQUIRE it for my students.
Rating:
Summary: Liberty Classic
Review: In the course of five decades the world has gone through many disasters and catastrophes. The policies that brought about these unfortunate events have also affected the nation's currency systems. Sound money gave way to progressive depreciating fiat money. All countries in the world vexed by inflation and treatened by the gloomy prospects of a complete breakdown of their currencies. The great inflations of our age are not act of God. They are man-made or government-made; ascribed to governments the magic of power creating wealth out of nothing and of making people happy by raising the "national income".Sound economics had been prognosticated by inflationist and expansionist who refused to take correct daignosis of the monetary reconstruction...
Rating:
Summary: THE introduction to sound monetary policy
Review: The late Murray Rothbard's short volume is the best single introduction available to monetary theory -- and to the sort of fiscal jiggery-pokery that becomes possible to the State which takes control of the currency. Here the reader will find a short introduction to what money is in the first place (and how it arises on a free market); how fiat currency makes inflation possible and allows the State to steal funds without anybody noticing; and what sound monetary policy would look like in the unlikely event that the State can ever be persuaded to take its fingers out of the pie. As is typical of Rothbard, the whole is presented with clarity, rigor, and wit. Readers who like what they find here may want to go on to Ludwig von Mises's _Theory of Money and Credit_ -- which Rothbard describes somewhere as the best book ever on monetary theory.
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