Ben Tarnoff’s Moneymakers (2012) tells the stories of three counterfeiters who plied their trade during different periods of American history – the Colonial era, early America and during the Civil War.
While their stories are interesting, I thought he did an excellent job at providing great historical context for our modern currency system and over-all economy (based largely on faith), where “people wield complex financial instruments like magic wands, spinning false fortunes out of the ether of global capitalism.”
Read reviews from the Times and the Wall Street Journal.