First published 1999. Bantam paperback, 2000, pp 272, c.72,000 words.
The Scotsman John Law was an extraordinary character who, three hundred years ago, after being exiled from Britain for murder, made a huge impact on the financing of government, most notably in France. Over a decade he created a financial bubble, which eventually, inevitably, imploded.
With such a subject, Gleeson couldn’t fail to make an astonishing and entertaining read, yet somehow this book is neither fish nor fowl: neither a rollicking good yarn about a fast character cutting a swathe across eighteenth century Europe, nor a study of the economics of Law’s schemes. Clearly Gleeson has done a lot of research: there are numerous acknowledgments to high-powered contacts, a long list (ten pages) of sources, and a hundred-entry bibliography. Enough material for an academic treatment perhaps, but this is attempting to be accessible to the general reader, and so there is no detailed analysis of the economics of Law’s schemes. The sources appear to be rather meagre on personal details and no one took notes of personal conversations or at important meetings. Newspaper accounts from the period are highly selective and sensationalised.
What we get is a ‘life’ of Law drawn from the thin material available. Gleeson largely sticks to the facts, adding almost no authorial conjecture. We get just enough of Law’s family background to have a hint of what made him. There was sufficient money to set him on the road to fortune and high society, added to which he had personal advantages: tall, good-looking, amiable, apparently easy-going, but with a mathematical brain and excellent memory. He seems to have always been able to make money gambling because he understood probability and odds better than anyone else, and as almost everyone enjoyed his company, the rich were prepared to lose to him, for a while at least.
But Law had ambition. He saw that a country’s finances could be transformed through a bank being permitted to issue paper with promises to redeem the paper on demand for coin. The advantage being that more paper could be issued than there was coin, allowing more economic investment than the limited coin allowed. He also saw that confidence and marketing were vital. Eventually he found acceptance for his plans in France, desperately in depression after Louis XIV’s extravagance, and with a regent in need of a radical plan to bolster his position. What followed was a classic boom-and-bust story with tales of coachmen suddenly becoming rich and aristocrats ruined. There are some very colourful accounts in this part of the story: the febrile atmosphere and get-rich-quick speculation.
Gleeson tries to make out that Law had a moral conscience who believed he was ultimately helping the everyday folk. However this is rather hard to reconcile with the blatant puffery around his schemes and the sometimes-vile methods employed to fulfil them.
The book gets off to rather a rough start. After an introduction setting the historical scene, the first chapter leaps into the middle of the story – the exciting build up. Then there is a return to Law’s family background and his early life – interesting enough in themselves. After that it settles down to a chronological story of Law’s life. Gleeson mostly writes very well, and this is easily digestible stuff.
Sadly I was left a bit dissatisfied. Because the sources are limited on Law’s life there is room for a fictionalised account that would make a terrific yarn. There must also be a very interesting story to tell about the details of Law’s schemes, particularly in France. This would need to be a bit more demanding of the reader in terms of the understanding of economics, particularly macro-economics. It is impossible to satisfy all readers, as other readers’ reviews attest: some thought it too academic, others not academic enough. It is a great story though, and this provides a jumping off point for those interested in more detail of an extraordinary individual and his impact on history.
Publisher’s biography of Gleeson: https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/186740/janet-gleeson?tab=penguin-biography
Publisher’s summary of the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/333619/the-moneymaker-by-janet-gleeson/9780857501134
Others’ reviews of the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/575834.The_Moneymaker?ref=nav_sb_ss_2_14
© William John Graham, March 2024