This publication may be of especial interest for American readers in that, perhaps for the first time, the complex power and political relationships existing in Central Europe at the beginning of the early modern period, which led to the emergence of the dollar, are clearly explained.ÂIt goes on to explain the relationships that existed between the different thaler currencies that were involved in the development of the European currency systems right up to modern times and explains the reasons why the term "dollar" was used in the late 18th Century, at the time of the founding of the United States of America.This book offers a very specific perspective on the common historical roots of the contemporary Euro-American civilization and contains significant new information not only for historians concerned with economic and political history, but that is also of importance for numismatists and collectors.ÂThe text is illustrated by 84 color photographs of coins and paper currency.

Petr Vorel is a Czech historian, numismatist and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy at the University of Pardubice.A His long-term research interest is the economic and political history of Central Europe and specifically with the history of monetary circulation. He considers as his most important publications on this topic the books Monetary Circulation in Central Europe at the Beginning of the Early Modern Age - Attempts to Establish a Shared Currency as an Aspect of the Political Culture of the 16th Century (1524-1573), and Silver in the European Monetary Circulation of the 16th and 17th Centuries (1472-1717). At the most recent XXIA International Congress of Historical Sciences (Amsterdam 2010) he was the organizer of the independent session "Trade and Civilization from Ancient Times to Present."A Currently he is the Chairman of the Czech National Committee of Historians.