The Mystery of Banking

The Mystery of Banking is Murray Rothbard’s 1983 book explaining the modern fractional-reserve banking system and its origins that have manifested in the current Federal Reserve System. In his June 2008 preface to the 298-page second edition, Douglas E. French suggests the work also lays out the “...devastating effects [of fractional-reserve banking] on the lives of every man, woman, and child.”

Rothbard dedicated the book to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Holt Campbell, and Ludwig von Mises, all “Champions of Hard Money.”

Links

 * (including full text)
 * Full PDF
 * Full text (Scribd)
 * Foreword by Joseph Salerno


 * Articles, essays and reviews
 * Cobden Centre review: "The Mystery of Banking" by Andy Duncan, April 2010 (excerpted as Mises Daily here)
 * "The Mystery of Central Banking" by Robert P. Murphy, July 2004 (republished in The Free Market here)
 * "Anatomy of the Fed" by Robert P. Murphy, December 2010
 * "Anatomy of the Fed" by Robert P. Murphy, December 2010


 * The Structure of the Federal Reserve System
 * The Structure of the Federal Reserve System at FederalReserveEducation.org


 * Related courses
 * Anatomy of the Fed Mises Academy course by Robert P. Murphy