John J. McCusker, currently the Halsell Distinguished Professor of American History and Professor of Economics at Trinity University, is the author of several books, including Rum and the American Revolution and How Much Is That In Real Money?, and Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775: A Handbook.|Russell R. Menard, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, is coauthor of Robert Cole's World: Agriculture and Society in Early Maryland.