Not yet ready for a thoroughly scholarly treatment of American monetary law and history-but still interested in learning something important about the Federal Reserve System, fractional-reserve banking, and the political, philosophical, and personal corruption that perpetuates them all? Then you need to read Edwin Vieira's not-so-fictional novel, CRA$HMAKER: A Federal Affaire.
Q. For many years, you have written scholarly pieces and lectured on monetary law and history, the Federal Reserve System, and so on. Why did you decide to write a novel on this subject?
A. Because I finally realized that Mary Poppins was right: "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." You see, when addressing various audiences-even those composed of people who were already somewhat knowedgeable about and interested in issues of money, legal tender, and political banking-I often observed how easily this material can become boring.
Of course, that was hardly surprising. The theory and history of money and banking are frequently convoluted, and not always simple to follow or understand. Although vitally important to all of us, much of this subject is anything but exciting, and some of it is rather tedious and even soporific. Add to this that it is difficult for anyone fully to appreciate the fundamentally corrupt nature of this country's monetary and banking systems without a solid foundation in political and moral philosophy, constitutional law, and American history. So I concluded that the challenge was not simply to lay out the facts in the traditional scholarly manner, and hope that the audience would take hold of them on its own. Instead, I had to approach the problem of public education from an entirely new perspective-one that would bring the subject to life, infuse it with vitality and color, and make it leap off the pages to grip the audience's hearts and minds.
Q. How could you accomplish that by writing fiction?
A. Because CRA$HMAKER is not really fiction after all. It is a story in which the Federal Reserve, monetary theory and history, constitutional law, free-market economics, and the political philosophy of a free society become, in a sense, the main characters. As they very well could be, if the world deviated just a little bit from its present course. CRA$HMAKER is an encyclopaedia of political and economic knowledge condensed into a pot-boiling tale designed to catch the readers' attention and hold their interest with an exciting and believable melodrama of modern political double-dealing, brimming over with romance, revenge, international intrigue, and all the vices and corruption that make contemporary Washington, D.C., the modern Babylon. It is a story in which (as the saying goes) the names have been changed-but not to protect the innocent, because none of the characters are any less sinful than the types of people in the real world whom they represent. Yes, the plot and protagonists are fictional-but the lessons readers will learn from them are entirely factual. Indeed, PIECES of EIGHT is the only book that can instruct you in more detail about this subject than CRA$HMAKER does. The difference is that PIECES of EIGHT educates by elucidating, CRA$HMAKER by entertaining. PIECES of EIGHT is the blueprint of a Ferrari, CRA$HMAKER a high-speed ride in one.
If I were just coming to this subject, I should read CRA$HMAKER first, to gain an overview, and then delve into PIECES of EIGHT, to get the specifics, footnotes and all.
Q. Who are the authors of CRA$HMAKER-Victor Sperandeo and Alvaro Almeida?
A. "Alvaro Almeida" is, of course, Edwin Vieira. It seemed appropriate when writing a novel-especially "a novel of love, death, and the Federal Reserve"-to use a nom de plume. The heroine of CRA$HMAKER, after all, is a strikingly beautiful Frenchwoman who...but I am getting off the subject, n'est-ce pas?
My co-author, Victor Sperandeo, is a real character in his own right. Among the Wall Street cognoscenti he is known as "Trader Vic", one of the few authentic modern Wall Street masters. He has written two very successful books on his philosophy and strategy of trading. So, he was a natural to collaborate with me on CRA$HMAKER-in which the plot centers on a crash of the Federal Reserve engineered by a brilliant Wall Street trader, and the political upheaval that follows. By the way, as with much else in CRA$HMAKER, the crash is not so very fictional either. It could be made to happen, if the right circumstances developed.
Q. With two such well-known authors, why is CRA$HMAKER not being widely advertised?
A. Victor and I always thought of CRA$HMAKER as something of an "underground" book, because we talk about things that no mainstream publisher-liberal or conservative-wants to touch with the proverbial ten-foot pole. CRA$HMAKER is unique. You have to go out of your way to hear about it, because you have to go out of your way to become knowledgeable about money and the Federal Reserve in the first place. We want readers willing to make a commitment, because our ultimate purpose is not simply to entertain, or even to educate, but to energize people into taking action to change America's monetary and banking systems while there is still time.
Q. Where can we find out what readers are saying about CRA$HMAKER?
A. I suggest you search the Web for "crashmaker", using the major search engines (my favorite right now is www.google.com). You will find a host of reviews, chat-room comments, and other coverage.
Q. How can someone purchase a copy of CRA$HMAKER?
A. In two ways. You can buy CRA$HMAKER on line, for $44.95 plus $5 shipping and handling, by visiting the CRA$HMAKER web site (at www.crashmaker.com)
Or, if you order PIECES of EIGHT at its introductory price, as described on the ORDER page of this web site, you will receive a brochure enabling you to buy CRA$HMAKER for $10.00 off its list price (that is, for $39.95 postpaid)-which, I think, is a very good deal, with CRA$HMAKER being a two-volume, 1,572-page hardbound book.
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