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A Counterfeiter's Paradise: The Wicked Lives and Surprising Adventures of Three Early American Moneymakers
"This tale of counterfeiting is a treat for everyone...a delightful history lesson...Admirable and altogether charming."
- The Washington Post As Ben Tarnoff reminds us in this entertaining narrative history, get-rich-quick schemes are as old as America itself. Indeed, the speculative ethos that pervades Wall Street today, Tarnoff suggests, has its origins in the counterfeiters who first took advantage of America's turbulent economy. In A Counterfeiter's Paradise , Tarnoff chronicles the lives of three colorful counterfeiters who flourished in early America, from the colonial period to the Civil War. Driven by desire for fortune and fame, each counterfeiter cunningly manipulated the political and economic realities of his day. Through the tales of these three memorable hustlers, Tarnoff tells the larger tale of America's financial coming-of-age, from a patchwork of colonies to a powerful nation with a single currency.
- The Washington Post As Ben Tarnoff reminds us in this entertaining narrative history, get-rich-quick schemes are as old as America itself. Indeed, the speculative ethos that pervades Wall Street today, Tarnoff suggests, has its origins in the counterfeiters who first took advantage of America's turbulent economy. In A Counterfeiter's Paradise , Tarnoff chronicles the lives of three colorful counterfeiters who flourished in early America, from the colonial period to the Civil War. Driven by desire for fortune and fame, each counterfeiter cunningly manipulated the political and economic realities of his day. Through the tales of these three memorable hustlers, Tarnoff tells the larger tale of America's financial coming-of-age, from a patchwork of colonies to a powerful nation with a single currency.
376 pages, Paperback
First published January 20, 2011
About the author
Ben Tarnoff
26 books65 followersBen Tarnoff is a tech worker, writer, and co-founder of Logic Magazine. His most recent book is Voices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk About What They Do—and How They Do It, co-authored with Moira Weigel. He has written for the New York Times, the Guardian, the New Republic, and Jacobin.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 24, 2026
This book looked like it could be interesting and I really enjoyed it. Because of the topic, the author finds a lot of interesting trivia that fits on the periphery whether it be pre-Revolutionary War Northern New England or the challenges of the early American justice system. It is largely split into three stories-Owen Sullivan who made headlines in the 1750s. David Lewis who becomes a bit of a Robin Hood figure in 1810s Pennsylvania, and Samuel Upham who during the Civil War made novelties that looked like Confederate money and ended up in circulation in the South.
All three are fascinating characters from history that most people would never have heard of. Alongside them are other counterfeiters who had similar schemes and the story runs parallel with the story of American monetary policy-whether that be National banks and the Federal Reserve or just plainly the opinions on paper currency and how they may have changed over time.
It would be an otherwise dry topic, but presented this way it’s quite entertaining. This would make a great documentary. I bought this book titled “A Counterfeiter’s Paradise” though it was originally published as “Moneymakers”.
All three are fascinating characters from history that most people would never have heard of. Alongside them are other counterfeiters who had similar schemes and the story runs parallel with the story of American monetary policy-whether that be National banks and the Federal Reserve or just plainly the opinions on paper currency and how they may have changed over time.
It would be an otherwise dry topic, but presented this way it’s quite entertaining. This would make a great documentary. I bought this book titled “A Counterfeiter’s Paradise” though it was originally published as “Moneymakers”.
Read
January 5, 2026Two passages from Moneymakers:
*
“The oft-repeated charge that paper money was unnatural revealed a deeper, more tangible fear. Paper posed a very real threat to the traditional class system of colonial America, an order that its self-appointed stewards liked to think of as natural. While hard currency tended to be concentrated in the hands of rich merchants, paper money was more widely distributed and changed hands more frequently. As a fluid and fickle form of wealth, paper’s dynamism undermined a static social arrangement built around fixed classes and fixed currency. An entrepreneurial class buoyed by credit clearly unnerved traditionalists, who were terrified of an economy where value had been sublimated into something spectral and slippery. Their alarm at the “ghost” of paper money had a metaphysical aspect: what they really feared was a world where appearances no longer reliably corresponded to reality, where a piece of paper could equal a pile of gold or an uncultured tradesman could become a powerful member of society. No one typified this phenomenon better than counterfeiters, who made a fortune capitalizing on the interval between appearance and reality. They were the most extreme exemplars of paper money’s corrosive effect on social conventions: men of simple origins who became rich and famous riding the coattails of an incorporeal currency.”
*
“On the other side of the water [in 1812], not far from where Brock was standing, six thousand American soldiers were preparing to invade. Brock knew they were there, and wanted to attack. But his superior General George Prevost, the governor of British North America, insisted on a strictly defensive strategy and, as a way to enforce his will, sent Brock a relatively small number of men. His hands tied, Brock waited. The imminent American assault and the timidity of his superior weren’t Brock’s only problems; he also felt widespread defeatism at home. Despite Brock’s celebrated reputation, people in Upper Canada felt an American triumph was inevitable. “[T]he population, believe me, is essentially bad,” Brock wrote to Provost. The Canadian militia shared the public’s pessimism; their gloom, combined with poor training and inadequate equipment, made them practically useless.”
*
*
“The oft-repeated charge that paper money was unnatural revealed a deeper, more tangible fear. Paper posed a very real threat to the traditional class system of colonial America, an order that its self-appointed stewards liked to think of as natural. While hard currency tended to be concentrated in the hands of rich merchants, paper money was more widely distributed and changed hands more frequently. As a fluid and fickle form of wealth, paper’s dynamism undermined a static social arrangement built around fixed classes and fixed currency. An entrepreneurial class buoyed by credit clearly unnerved traditionalists, who were terrified of an economy where value had been sublimated into something spectral and slippery. Their alarm at the “ghost” of paper money had a metaphysical aspect: what they really feared was a world where appearances no longer reliably corresponded to reality, where a piece of paper could equal a pile of gold or an uncultured tradesman could become a powerful member of society. No one typified this phenomenon better than counterfeiters, who made a fortune capitalizing on the interval between appearance and reality. They were the most extreme exemplars of paper money’s corrosive effect on social conventions: men of simple origins who became rich and famous riding the coattails of an incorporeal currency.”
*
“On the other side of the water [in 1812], not far from where Brock was standing, six thousand American soldiers were preparing to invade. Brock knew they were there, and wanted to attack. But his superior General George Prevost, the governor of British North America, insisted on a strictly defensive strategy and, as a way to enforce his will, sent Brock a relatively small number of men. His hands tied, Brock waited. The imminent American assault and the timidity of his superior weren’t Brock’s only problems; he also felt widespread defeatism at home. Despite Brock’s celebrated reputation, people in Upper Canada felt an American triumph was inevitable. “[T]he population, believe me, is essentially bad,” Brock wrote to Provost. The Canadian militia shared the public’s pessimism; their gloom, combined with poor training and inadequate equipment, made them practically useless.”
*
January 8, 2019
The stories in this book can't get more American. Entrepreneurial spirits attempt to get rich quickly while federal and local governments grapple over who has the authority to regulate them. Once the golden era of counterfeiting ends, the Constitution has been reinterpreted and the national government is an irreplaceable part of American moneymaking.
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December 23, 2023Is this the same book as Tarnoff's "A Counterfeiter's Paradise", published in 2012?
February 14, 2018
Who would have thought that a book about counterfeiters could teach someone so much about the US money system and the US economy! If you are doing research on the Civil War, the US economy, the Fed, collecting paper money, politics, investing or US history, this is a book you must read!
June 10, 2013
The title is terribly misleading. More than a chronicle of three counterfeiters, it is an account of the historical people and events that shaped U.S. currency. The author regularly deviates from the story of the counterfeiters to touch on other possible moments of intrigue. Rather than sticking to the general thesis of his book (the three counterfeiters), we get references to the writing of Frankenstein or the battle of Antietam that have no direct effect on the lives of the subjects. These frequent diversions detract from what possibly could have been a much more interesting account of the lives of the three men. Instead of following their story, the writer steps away, and then suddenly the counterfeiter is in jail, or out of jail, with no account of how it happened.
As a result, this historical account of three intriguing men in American history becomes little more than the side notes found in any history book, and the remainder of the book focused elsewhere, possibly the majority of it, reads exactly like a history book.
What could have been three accounts of action, suspense, and intrigue re-read many times, is instead a book that will do nothing but sit on my shelves and collect dust.
As a result, this historical account of three intriguing men in American history becomes little more than the side notes found in any history book, and the remainder of the book focused elsewhere, possibly the majority of it, reads exactly like a history book.
What could have been three accounts of action, suspense, and intrigue re-read many times, is instead a book that will do nothing but sit on my shelves and collect dust.
April 10, 2016
A book about counterfeiters may not sound like the most thrilling concept up front, I'll grant. But Tarnoff manages to study three different periods in American history and link in the history of paper currency, which everyone takes for granted now, in early America. It's actually a really interesting read.
The three eras in question are around and just before the American Revolution, the war of 1812, and the Civil War. Three particular forgers are the focus of their respective sections, but we see more as the story progresses. This is a history book touching on American history, criminal justice in America, and military history. I never thought about what counterfeiting Confederate money in the North would be like, for example.
This is a good read about periods of American History I am familiar with, but not from this perspective. I found it interesting, and recommend it to anyone with any interest at all in the periods I mentioned above.
The three eras in question are around and just before the American Revolution, the war of 1812, and the Civil War. Three particular forgers are the focus of their respective sections, but we see more as the story progresses. This is a history book touching on American history, criminal justice in America, and military history. I never thought about what counterfeiting Confederate money in the North would be like, for example.
This is a good read about periods of American History I am familiar with, but not from this perspective. I found it interesting, and recommend it to anyone with any interest at all in the periods I mentioned above.
June 12, 2013
Contains one spoiler.
I taught him freshman history! And now he's written a book! A good one, too, full of great stories about 18th and 19th century counterfeiters. My favorite, Samuel Upham, made TONS of fake Confederate currency during the Civil War and sold it. Then, when a competitor, who later was arrested for counterfeiting by the US government in an impressively smart sting operation by the Confederate Secret Service (which sent north a letter implicating him as a REAL Southern mint, hoping that it would be intercepted and decoded) started making other currency, Upham had to advertise that his was the real fake Confederate currency. It's a well-done book, with a lot of great detail and vivid prose, so I am glad to say I did not do Ben any intellectual harm.
I taught him freshman history! And now he's written a book! A good one, too, full of great stories about 18th and 19th century counterfeiters. My favorite, Samuel Upham, made TONS of fake Confederate currency during the Civil War and sold it. Then, when a competitor, who later was arrested for counterfeiting by the US government in an impressively smart sting operation by the Confederate Secret Service (which sent north a letter implicating him as a REAL Southern mint, hoping that it would be intercepted and decoded) started making other currency, Upham had to advertise that his was the real fake Confederate currency. It's a well-done book, with a lot of great detail and vivid prose, so I am glad to say I did not do Ben any intellectual harm.
June 14, 2016
An entertaining and insightful read. I had no idea currency was such a fundamentally chaotic issue in our nation's foundational period. Banks - not a national mint - were responsible for producing the legal tender notes. That and the jurisdictional confusions between states and the vast wilderness areas provided allowances for ungoverned criminal activity and led to a perfect storm for counterfeiters to ply their craft. This book explains what a huge issue paper currency was in these early days of the republic and the rogues and vagabonds whose exploits gained them Robin Hood status as eye gougers to the 'legal' financiers who were oft times politically connected scam artists themselves. Highly recommended.
August 3, 2013
A little dry but probably more engaging than you should reasonably expect a history of American currency to be. Essential for anyone interested in (or confused by) discussions surrounding the Fed, Treasury, and gold standard. Spoiler: we've been having the same national arguments about debt, currency and banking since before we became a nation.
August 27, 2013
What I liked about this book is that it was less a story of three counterfeiters than it was a story of the history of our money supply using the three stories. I really enjoyed learning how our use of money has changed since before our formation as a nation. Very well told story. I enjoyed it very much.
George
George
December 3, 2016
This book just never sucked me in. The concept - looking at historical trends and how fiscal policy evolved in the US through the lens of counterfeiting - is an interesting one, and the three counterfeiters the author focuses on were no doubt intriguing characters, but the book can't decide if it's about policy and broad social changes or about the three individuals, and it suffers for it.
October 15, 2018
Interesting
Trying to figure out why an 1800s Vermont atlas labeled a remote mountain area as “Counterfeiters Money Camp” led me to this book, which answered that question and also painted some fascinating pictures of economic instability and colorful characters in North America, from the 18th through 20th centuries.
Trying to figure out why an 1800s Vermont atlas labeled a remote mountain area as “Counterfeiters Money Camp” led me to this book, which answered that question and also painted some fascinating pictures of economic instability and colorful characters in North America, from the 18th through 20th centuries.
June 18, 2012
Very well written -- I liked the blend of stories about specific characters, as well as the broader discussion about the history of monetary policy. Does raise some good philosophical questions about what money really is and what gives it value.
April 2, 2011
quick read with a lot of information about how the nature of paper money in the development of our national currency.
June 5, 2013
Look at the title and the subtitle: This should have been a far more interesting read than it was. I gave up about 2/3 of the way through.
September 3, 2016
Really interesting look at the history of paper currency in the United States told through the stories of three famous counterfeiters.
Read
December 23, 2023Is this the same book as Tarnoff's "Moneymakers", published in 2011? It has the same subtitle.
might-read
January 21, 2012As reviewed in NYT Book Review Jan 30 2011.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews