War has shaped currencies, creating, abolishing and moulding them. By providing the means through which they have been fought, coins and banknotes have proved themselves an indispensable weapon of war. But the disruption that comes with conflict has seen usage of money change to cope with extreme circumstances. Coins have frequently been debased or often buried in hoards as an army advances, they have found themselves saving lives on a battlefield or becoming objects of sentiment as a memory of home. As symbols of state, money has offered the means through which victorious leaders have proclaimed their triumphs, evidenced from Roman Emperors through to the more poignant modern ways in which commemoration predominates. | In this new book Kevin Clancy, Director of the Royal Mint Museum, seeks to explore these themes, revealing how something which thrives on stability can adapt when the normal rules of life are turned upside down. Richly illustrated throughout, the book focuses principally on the experience in Britain from Tudor times but draws on other instances from around the world and across time to show how money and war have collided and influenced one another. | It is a fascinating story that will be as engaging to those with an interest in military history as much as to those of us with more than a passing interest in money.

Illustrated with 200 stunning photographs and encompassing objects from furniture and ceramics to jewelry and metal, this definitive work from Jo Lauria and Steve Fenton showcases some of the greatest pieces of American crafts of the last two centuries. Potter Craft

The United Kingdom was the last major nation-state in the world to adopt decimal currency, 50 years ago in 1971. Why was it so slow to do so? What changed politicians' and peoples' minds about it in the 1960s? Were Britain's plans to join the EEC influential? What was the impact of South Africa, Australia and New Zealand going decimal several years earlier? Or did it simply happen because of common sense, with a decimal system so much easier to learn and use than pounds, shillings and pence?The route to find the right designs was a complex one, with interfering politicians, struggling artists, and at one stage an angry Duke of Edinburgh! It took over five years to get there, and then there was the seven-sided 50 pence - a design classic we would say today, but what did the media and public think of it when it was launched in 1969?When Britain Went Decimal takes readers through the changeover leading to D-Day (decimalisation day), and beyond: how smooth and successful was the process? Did newspapers secretly hope it would fail? While decimalisation might have seemed right at the time, did it lead to inflation, as many people believe today?Entertainingly written and beautifully illustrated, this first book on decimalisation since 1973 attempts to answer all these questions and more, looking as much at the design - indeed the 'art' behind the new coinage - as at social, economic and political history.

The clock is relentlessly ticking! Our world teeters on a knife-edge between a peaceful and prosperous future for all, and a dark winter of death and destruction that threatens to smother the light of civilization. Within 30 years, in the 2030 decade, six powerful 'drivers' will converge with unprecedented force in a statistical spike that could tear humanity apart and plunge the world into a new Dark Age. Depleted fuel supplies, massive population growth, poverty, global climate change, famine, growing water shortages and international lawlessness are on a crash course with potentially catastrophic consequences. In the face of both doomsaying and denial over the state of our world, Colin Mason cuts through the rhetoric and reams of conflicting data to muster the evidence to illustrate a broad picture of the world as it is, and our possible futures. Ultimately his message is clear; we must act decisively, collectively and immediately to alter the trajectory of humanity away from catastrophe. Offering over 100 priorities for immediate action, The 2030 Spike serves as a guidebook for humanity through the treacherous minefields and wastelands ahead to a bright, peaceful and prosperous future in which all humans have the opportunity to thrive and build a better civilization. This book is powerful and essential reading for all people concerned with the future of humanity and planet earth.