Millionaire: The Philanderer, Gambler, and Duelist Who Invented Modern Finance

Gleeson's riveting biography of Law shows that market speculation was not invented with the advent of Internet startups, but has a history that goes at least as far back as the beginning of the 1700s, when Law's financial innovations made ordinary citizens rich beyond their wildest dreams. Born in Scotland, Law parlayed his talent for gambling into a substantial fortune that earned him entrance to the most prestigious courts of the early 18th century. With help from his friends in high places, he escaped from an English jail, where he had been sentenced to death for killing a man in a duel, and worked his way to France. Upon his arrival in Paris, Law met the nephew of King Louis XIV, Philippe, duc d'Orleans, who soon would assume the throne following the death of his uncle. As regent, d'Orleans was faced with a nearly bankrupt country and was eventually persuaded by Law to endorse a system of paper currency. With the regent's blessing, Law established the first French bank, and created the Mississippi Company, a conglomerate that held the trading rights to France's Louisiana territory and in which Law sold shares to the public. At first the bank, and especially the Mississippi Company, performed spectacularly; the boom it fueled made millionaires out of thousands of Frenchmen--and Law a hero. But the overheated economy, which became known as the Mississippi Bubble, soon imploded, driving Law out of France and the country back to the gold standard. With its deft evocation of 18th-century culture and its lucid description of monetary principles, Gleeson's absorbing biography is the perfect summer read for dot.com tycoons and those who aspire to be. (July)