Paper Soldiers: How the Weaponization of the Dollar Changed the World Order

The U.S. dollar has become a tool for manipulating other countries, according to this incisive debut treatise. Bloomberg News journalist Mohsin traces the origins of the dollar’s weaponization to the 1944 meeting between Allied powers establishing that the postwar international financial system would be built on American currency, as well as Clinton-era Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin’s policy of maintaining a strong dollar by inspiring investors’ confidence. The far-reaching consequences included the rise of sanctions as the preferred method for exerting American policy preferences, as when the U.S. attempted to rein in Iran’s nuclear development program in 2012 by barring anyone doing business with the country from using the dollar, a policy that ended up tanking Iran’s national currency and “driving millions of Iranians deeper into poverty.” Mohsin brings to the proceedings a reporter’s eye for story and grounds the fiscal discussions in anecdotes about key Treasury staff, as in her description of the moment Stuart Levey, who oversaw the department’s sanctions office from 2004 to 2011, learned how much money his colleagues had uncovered in their efforts to freeze Libyan despot Muammar Gaddafi’s assets: “Sitting in a high-ceilinged fourth floor office at Treasury with a view of the Washington Monument, Levey’s jaw dropped... as he read the final figure for how much money his snoopers had found over the past two days: $30 billion.” It’s a thorough examination of how America has wielded economic influence to its own advantage across the globe. Agent: Matt Carlini, Javelin Literary. (Mar.)