Eric Platt/Business Insider

After an amazing run that lasted over a decade, gold has been a major laggard this year.

 

And lately it has been particularly weak. But it remains the subject of an intense amount of fascination, both in terms of the investment prospects, and as a subject of political and historical debate.

So we’ve compiled the ultimate guide to gold: Its history, its performance, what moves it, and what it might do next.