A century and a half of America’s consumer economy in one easy-to-use volume, The Value of a Dollar records the prices of thousands of items purchased from the Civil War to the present, along with facts about investment options and income opportunities.

Using this data, readers will get a sense of how prices changed over time and how those changes compare to the value of the dollar. This text gives readers a broader understanding of life in America through the wallets of real Americans.

This new edition of The Value of a Dollar is broken down into two comprehensive sections. Section One: 1860-2019 is divided into nine easy-to-read chapters. Each chapter includes currency conversion charts, historical snapshots, selected income, consumer expenditures, investments and standard income. Section Two: Pricing Trends compares the cost of everyday products, services and jobs, in a specified number of years and compares it to today’s dollar.