Why read Bonds of War?

Book cover of Bonds of War: How Civil War Financial Agents Sold the World on the Union

Book description

How does one package and sell confidence in the stability of a nation riven by civil strife? This was the question that loomed before the Philadelphia financial house of Jay Cooke & Company, entrusted by the US government with an unprecedented sale of bonds to finance the Union war effort…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Bonds of War as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John L. Brooke

Author

Fighting a war required a lot of money, and David Thomson explains how that money was found. His story is surprising. Previous American wars going back to the Revolution had been funded by great merchants and financiers, but fundraising in the Union drew on a new source, by an unexpected figure.

The notorious financier Jay Cooke would later describe his role in organizing huge sales of U.S. war bonds to the American public as his finest hour. Certainly, there were bonds sold in European markets, especially in Germany, but the bulk of the war finance was based on ordinary Americans…

From John's list on the North during the Civil War.