"On the death of France's most glorious king, Louis XIV, in 1715, few people benefited from the shift in power more than the intriguing financial genius from Edinburgh, John Law. Already notorious for killing a man in a duel and for acquiring a huge fortune from gambling, Law had proposed to the English monarch that a bank be established to issue paper money with the credit based on the value of land. But Queen Anne was not about to take advice from a gambler and felon.

So, in exile in Paris, he convinced the bankrupt court of Louis XV of the value of his idea." "Law soon engineered the revival of the French economy and found himself one of the most powerful men in Europe. In August 1717, he founded the Mississippi Company, and the Court granted him the right to trade in France's vast territory in America.".

"In Millionaire, Janet Gleeson reconstructs this epic drama where fortunes were made and lost, paupers grew rich, and lords fell into penury - and a modern fiscal philosophy was born. Her tale reveals two great characters: John Law, with his complex personality and inscrutable motives, and money itself."--BOOK JACKET.