How to protect yourself from today's financial Attilas is the theme of the book.

The author's Sandy Franks and Sara Nunnally draw historical comparisons to Attila the Hun, Charlemagne, The Vikings and Genghis Khan in their descriptions of those who have caused the economic collapse of the last several years.

The demons of old Earth history scoured the earth destroying lives and plundering villages and cities of anything that could be of value. Not for anything other than their own enrichment.

Parallels are drawn to companies' creating and handling of credit derivatives. Investment vehicles they know would eventually fail and cause economic hardship for regular people who would not have the finances to withstand major hits to their rortfolios.

Bank bubbles are nothing new, the first one noted in the book was in 1792 by Wiiliam Duer. Along with a partner Alexander Macomb they would leak stories to the press about companies they were investing in to make the share prices rise, heard that before?

The bubble burst when stock prices started to fall and the people he borrowed money came to collect. Getting sent to debtors prison causing a panic on Wall Street, losses totalled over three million dollars. That's in 1792.

Chronicling other shady activities by our corporate elite up to the present day the comparisons are quite fair. The barbarians of centuries past and of today are seemingly cut from the same cloth. Makes you wonder if they are direct descendants of them and how it's possible for those who knowingly destroy other people's lives can sleep at night.

A likely answer to anyone who is a fan of the TV series Criminal Minds or who have read any books on psychology is they're sociopaths. Incapable of feeling any remorse or empathy for their victims. While they've never murdered anyone if they've caused people to take their own lives wha are they?

Barbarians of Wealth is not, however, a rant about the evils of money and capitalism. They have a section on how you can preserve your wealth, at least what's left of it.

That section has a chapter on diversification, precious metals, currency and investing in resource rich countries.

It's a truly eye opener to how things have gotten to where they are, even with regulatory boards people will find loop holes, legal or otherwise, to get themselves enriched at our expense by not only wrecking our retirement accounts but by having our tax dollars bail them out.

Verdict?

Buy the book and take the actions they describe to protect your wealth.