The Almighty Dollar
Overall verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★
Why this book?
I first came across ‘The Almighty Dollar’ when I heard Dharshini David speaking at the Hay Festival 2018. Her clarity of explanation was astounding and I knew instantly that I wanted to read the book. As is so often the case I started reading the book for my own general knowledge and interest- I didn’t pick it up with geography teaching or subject knowledge in mind. However, if you’ve read the book you’ll understand what I mean when I say that the scheme of work just jumped out at me- I had to immediately grab a highlighter and a note pad and get planning…
For students:
As the title suggests, this book is all about the dollar and a journey around the world to explain how the global economy really works. It explains so much of the fundamental workings of the global economy in the 21st century yet it does so in an accessible way that is not too dense. When you buy a $2 radio in America, where does that money go? Why is so much of our stuff made in China? Why is China increasingly interested in Africa? Why does the price of oil matter so much? This book will answer so many of the questions that you may have asked in geography!
For teachers:
On the ‘Classroom Resources’ page of this blog, I will shortly share the overview and resources used to teach this book to our Year 7s in order to answer the fertile question of ‘Where does money go when it’s spent?’. However, I would urge you to read the book before using any of those resources- the power of them really does lie in the story and the global interconnections explained through the journey of the book. As soon as I read this book, I knew that I wanted to use it to teach globalisation and to introduce students to the profound interconnections of our global economy. Too often I think we (as geography teachers) jump into talking about the economy, about development and about globalisation without truly having taken the time to explain these concepts to our students; to ensure the foundation of knowledge is there with which to build on when studying development in more depth. For me, this is what teaching this book allows us to do.