Money, The Unauthorized Biography. By Felix Martin.

Documents the history of money, especially the tension between the two concepts of money. One as an absolute standard of value. The other as a transferable system of credits.

Money as an absolute standard of value (Such as the gold standard) has always been favored by less-government types because it can be maintained without a powerful government. It's only when money is treated as a system of transferable credit, managed by a government, that the economy can stabilize.

The book also has a strong opinion on how banks should be reformed to deal with the great recession. It calls for a separation between payment-transfer banking and investment banking. There were other recommendations, all good I'm sure, but they have fallen out of my mind.