PROLOGUE: The Supreme Possession 1

A METAL FOR ALL SEASONS

1. Get Gold at All Hazards 9

2. Midas's Wish and the Creatures of Pure Chance 18

3. Darius's Bathtub and the Cackling of the Geese 38

4. The Symbol and the Faith 52

5. Gold, Salt, and the Blessed Town 66

6. The Legacy of Eoba, Babba, and Udd 74

7. The Great Chain Reaction 85

8. The Disintegrating Age and the Kings' Ransoms 96

9. The Sacred Thirst 114

THE PATH TO TRIUMPH

10. The Fatal Poison and Private Money 135

11. The Asian Necropolis and Hien Tsung's Inadvertent Innovation 158

12. The Great Recoinage and the Last of the Magicians 175

13. The True Doctrine and the Great Evil 198

14. The New Mistress and the Cursed Discovery 219

15. The Badge of Honor 239

16. The Most Stupendous Conspiracy and the Endless Chain 260

THE DESCENT FROM GLORY

17. The Norman Conquest 283

18. The End of the Epoch 306

19. The Transcending Value 328

20. World War Eight and the Thirty Ounces of Gold 346

EPILOGUE: The Supreme Possession? 367

Notes 373

Bibliography 397

Index 409