In the first years of this new century, the price of gold nearly tripled. Why should today's investors take notice? Because gold is the ultimate competitor to the U.S. dollar. In this age of increasing global competition and military conflict, ignoring the gold market could be devastating for anyone seeking to build wealth over the long run. A vote for gold is a vote against the dollar, against paper money . . . and paper assets. It's a way of saying, ''Yes, we know Mr. Bernanke, Mr. Bush, and Goldman Sachs are doing a good job, but it might be a good idea to have some REAL money, just in case.''

The world's commercial centers have used one or another variant of a gold standard for most of the last three millennia. And for good reason: gold forces governments to be fiscally responsible and it provides a stable environment for rapid economic growth as well as a safe environment for individual investors to grow their own wealth.

For the last thirty-five years, the U.S. government has been able to ''print'' money at will. If history is any guide, this government will do as all governments have in the past: overprint, causing the currency to crash. Inevitably, they will be forced to return to the gold standard, but at great expense and with considerable suffering. Investors who are not prepared will suffer the most.

Unfortunately, asserts Nathan Lewis, both advocates and detractors of the gold standard grossly misunderstand the inner workings of this human institution. In making his case for a return to the gold standard, Lewis takes a whirlwind tour of money in all its forms, from the seventh century B.C. to the present day, explaining in straightforward layman's terms the effects of inflation, deflation, and floating currencies along with their effect on prices, wages, taxes, and debt.

Lewis also provides an engaging history of U.S. money and offers a sobering look at recent currency crises around the world, including the Asian monetary crisis of the late 1990s and the devastating currency devaluations in Russia, China, Mexico, and Yugoslavia. And, in doing so, explains why making gold a part of your portfolio has never been more important than it is today.

The ultimate conclusion of Gold: The Once and Future Money is simple but powerful: the gold standard produced decades, even centuries, of solid money and economic abundance. If history is any guide, we can ¿and should¿abandon this era of easy money and return to the stability of the gold standard.