NYC Harvard Club Book Promotion – “Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the US Dollar Changed the World Order”

[johnkarls]

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I propose that we read “Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the US Dollar Changed the World Order” by Saleha Mohsin (Portfolio Publishing 3/19/2024 – 304 pages but probably many fewer sans notes & index – Hardcover $13.32 or $15.99 Kindle from Amazon.com).


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THE HARVARD CLUB OF NYC WILL CONDUCT A ZOOM WEBINAR WITH THE AUTHOR ON 10/8/2024 (such webinars typically comprise a 30-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of Q&A).

FOR ANYONE WHO IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE NYC HARVARD CLUB AND WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WEBINAR, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com.

RECORDINGS OF SUCH WEBINARS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE CLUB’S WEBSITE FOR A LIMITED PERIOD – IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ACCESS THE RECORDING AFTERWARDS AND ARE NOT A MEMBER, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com AND I WILL ARRANGE FOR YOU TO ACCESS IT IF IT IS STILL AVAILABLE.

[The only advantage in participating in the webinar vs. see/hearing the recording ex post facto, is the ability to ask the author questions.]


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NYC Harvard Club Notice –

ZOOM – How the Weaponization of the US Dollar Changed the World Order
Tuesday, October 8 @ 07:00 pm – 08:00 pm ET

Join us for a discussion with the Senior Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg News Saleha Mohsin on her newly released book Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World Order. As the global order continues to evolve, it seems that the dollar’s dominance may find itself waning for the first time in 70 years. In a world dividing into two camps, one led by China and the other by the U.S, Mohsin investigates America’s strong dollar policy and how it has shaped the world order, the effects of America’s heavy-handed sanctions on its adversaries, and how American allies view the dollar in today’s global financial system.

Suna Vidinli, Program Committee


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Book Description per Amazon.com (usually quoting from the book’s dust jacket)

"Incisive debut treatise... Mohsin brings to the proceedings a reporter's eye for story" — Publisher's Weekly

From Bloomberg News reporter Saleha Mohsin, the untold story of how one of America’s most invincible institutions—the Treasury—has used the U.S. dollar to define America’s role in the world, and our economic future.

In 1995, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin re-defined the next thirty years of currency policy with the mantra, “A strong dollar is in America’s interest.” That mantra held, ushering in exceptional prosperity and cheap foreign goods, but the strong dollar policy also played a role in the devastating hollowing out of America’s manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, abroad, the United States increasingly turned to the dollar as a weapon of war. In Paper Soldiers, Saleha Mohsin reveals how the Treasury Department has shaped U.S. policy at home and overseas by wielding the American dollar as a weapon—and what that means in a new age of crisis.

For decades, America has preferred its currency superpower-strong, the basis of a "strong dollar" policy that attracted foreign investors and pleased consumers. Drawing on Mohsin's unparalleled access to current and former Treasury officials like Robert Rubin, Steven Mnuchin, and Janet Yellen, Paper Soldiers traces that policy's intended and unintended consequences, including the rise of populist sentiment and trade war with China—culminating in an unprecedented attack on the dollar’s pristine status during the Trump presidency—and connects the dollar's weaponization from 9/11 to the deployment of crippling financial sanctions against Russia. Ultimately, Mohsin argues that, untethered from many of the economic assumptions of the last generation, the power and influence of the American dollar is now at stake.

With first-hand reporting and fresh analysis that illustrates the vast, often unappreciated power that the Treasury Department wields at home and abroad, Paper Soldiers tells the inside story of how we really got here—and the future not only of the almighty dollar, but the nation’s teetering role as a democratic superpower.


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Author Bio per Amazon.com

Saleha Mohsin is the Senior Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg News, covering policy, politics, and power in Washington, D.C. An Ohio native, she previously lived in Oslo, Norway, and in London.

[Reading Liberally addition – Per LinkedIn, Ms. Mohsin has been with Bloomberg for 11.5 years and its Senior Washington Correspondent for 2.7 years, and she is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati.]


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Book Review Excerpts per Amazon.com

“Paper Soldiers is a deeply reported, authoritative examination of Washington’s hidden power center — the U.S. Treasury — and how the men and women who've overseen it have helped turn the U.S. dollar into a powerful, contentious, and ultimately risky weapon of global influence. A must-read book for anyone looking to go beyond the headlines and truly understand how power works in Washington.”
— Joshua Green, #1 NYT bestselling author of Devil's Bargain, and a writer for Bloomberg Businessweek

“With thorough reporting and enlightening, propulsive writing, Saleha Mohsin ushers readers into the gilded rooms and global hotspots where the American dollar has shaped history. A brilliant feat of explanatory journalism."
— Toluse Olorunnipa, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

“Saleha Mohsin expertly guides us through the last several decades of mistakes and triumphs in our dollar policy with meticulous fly-on-the-wall detail. The result is a vital read for anyone who worries that the best days for the dollar are behind us."
— Jesse Eisinger, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of The Chickenshit Club, and a senior editor and reporter at ProPublica

"Essential reading... [Paper Soldiers] brings to life the narrative of how Treasury officials have used the U.S. dollar as a tool of American foreign policy over the last three decades — along with the hazards that has created"
— Neil Irwin, author of The Alchemist

"Phenomenal"
— Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge and former White House Director of Communications