ROGER LOWENSTEIN, author of many histories of 20th-century American finance, became interested in the 19th-century banking system that predated the Federal Reserve and its origins in the Civil War. In his latest book, Ways and Means: Lincoln and His Cabinet and the Financing of the Civil War (Penguin Press), Lowenstein narrates how the challenges of funding the United States effort produced innovations that included a new banking system and a new role for government in shaping the nation’s future.
CWT: What were U.S. finances like at the start of the war?
Everyone thought it would be a short war, so no one was prepared. There is a modern-day resonance with Vladimir Putin, who has bitten off more than he can chew. He’s got a nice
