My earlier review of the first issue of Lapham's Quarterly covers the work a whole, this is a review of the second issue: "About Money" (Spring 2008)

Before getting into the specific contents of this issue I want to relate a personal story. When I was younger, my grandmother would send a Christmas package each year that included a small bag of coins from other countries (real and defunct). Some were old and worn, others shiny and new, some had real value, most were no longer in currency, artifacts of another age durable enough to survive alongside rocks, fishing hooks and other curiosities. I would sometimes go through the pile of strange coinage, feeling the weight of each, the different shapes and languages and pictures, the clinking sounds of different metals on metal from countries that normally never mix, except in collections, and my mind would wonder - who owned this coin, what is its story? Such is this collection of essays about money from vastly different time periods and authors, each page a coin to discover and treasure, some old, others new, some of value, others not so much., to compare and find new meaning by their relative position to one another, a sum greater than the parts.

The format of "About Money" is similar to that of "States of War" (see previous review) ) with an opening essay by Lapham followed by 5 thematic sections titled: "Exchange Rates", "Earnings", Expenditures", "Liquidity" and "Derivatives". Lapham says this "five-part improvisation can be read as an attempt to restore power to the American dialectic; it can also be read as a gloss on the bull-market in superstition, along the lines of what the watchers at the bedside of the Dow Jones Industrial Average like to call a "technical correction." - In other words, words of wisdom from the past about the problems of the present.

There are some real gems within and here are my favorites with brief commentary: "Savannah" (p.48) by Mortimer Thomas is an amazingly banal look at the evil of slave trading - humans reduced to pure commodity, notable for its clear-eyed lack of emotional content. "West Germany" (p.50) is a letter sent to debtors offering to buy their internal organs (kidney) in exchange for debt relief - in 1987! "Wall Street" (p.55) by Daniel Loeb is a masterpiece of character assassination - and wonderfully entertaining."Peking" (p.60) by Liu Xu is a colorful and exotic journey into a lost Orient of another era. "Detroit" (p.68) by Henry Ford tells of his early career, rise to power and business philosophy, sort of like a conversation one might have with him over drinks looking back on his younger days. "Roulettenburg" (p.82) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky is one of the best descriptions of what it's like to be on a gambling winning streak - I've experienced this before and the feeling, the mystery of it all, is spot on.

"Paris" (p.108) by George Orwell is a reminder that being poor (really poor) does have its disadvantages, it would shake any romantic vision of the starving artist. "Titanic Dinner Menu" (p.119), the first-class dinner menu the night the Titanic sunk. After reading this ten-courcse meal(!) I felt like sinking myself. Probably the greatest "last supper" ever served (compare with death-row inmate last suppers). "Pennsylvania" (p.120) by John Updike, finds a natural connection between lust and money - the lights are on, the gross details are out in the open, the vulgarity of greed and sex are exposed as grubbing grabbing debasement. "Fifth Avenue" (p.133) by Mark Singer shows how shallow Donald Trump is, yet after Trump read this article in The New Yorker he said "Some people cast shadows, and some people choose to live in those shadows," suggesting a slightly more nuanced internal life of Trump. The picture facing this page by Lauren Greenfield is superb and my favorite in this issue. "Sardinia" (p.151) describes a birthday party of obscene opulence, where everything is so over the top that in the end it all seems blasai and typical.

"New York City" (p.159) by James Crammer, a recent piece from 2007, describing the current financial crises and the big picture in easy to understand terms. "New York City" (p.161) by Washington Irving, an historical counter-point to Crammer's article, warns of regular financial turmoils that come and go and the signs of their coming can be read like old sailors storm warnings. "Germany/Czech Republic" (p.166) by Loretta Napoleoni describes the trade in human sex-slaves ongoing today (a white European female sex slave can be bought in Israel for $8 to $10,000 a head).

Of the 4 guest essayists (Jack Weatherford, Jackson Lears, Tim Parks, Edward Castronova) I think Lears is the best, but they are all interesting and accessible and enlightening. There is also a counter-factual "What if.." history essay about what would have happened if Hitler had destroyed the retreating Dunkirk expeditionary force - but I found it unconvincing: Churchill always said, he was never truly worried about loosing the war except in the early days of the German U-Boat, when England for a short while lost control of the seas.

Overall a good issue. The subject matter is a little more difficult than the first issue on War, and the "narrative" is less clear. I found the more obscure pieces to be the most rewarding as I know I'd never find or read it otherwise. Looking forward to future issues.

--Review by Stephen Balbach, via CoolReading (c) 2008 cc-by-nd ( )