H.W. Brands, the Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial Professor of History and Government in the university’s Department of History, presented “The Past, Present and Future of the Dollar.” Brands outlined America’s varied attempts to create money, from gold to credit cards, and gave the historical context for the rise and eventual decline of the dollar among world currencies. What can the critics and creators of U.S. monetary policy learn from the history of the dollar in the world economy?
About H.W. Brands
Brands was born in Oregon, went to college in California, sold cutlery across the American West and earned graduate degrees in mathematics and history in Oregon and Texas.
He taught at Vanderbilt University and Texas A&M University before joining the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is the Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial Professor of History and Government.
Brands writes on American history and politics, with books including “Traitor to His Class,” “Andrew Jackson,” “The Age of Gold,” “The First American” and “TR.”
Several of Brands’ books have been bestsellers. “Traitor to His Class” and “The First American” were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.
He lectures frequently on historical and current events and can be seen and heard on national and international television and radio programs. His writings have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Ukrainian.
UT Game Changers brings The University of Texas at Austin’s intellectual talent beyond the classroom with an hour-long show to be broadcast on The Longhorn Network along with a Web-only version, above.
