A Levite Among The Priests: Edward M. Bernstein And The Origins Of The Bretton Woods System
Reviewed by William Diebold, Jr.
"A Levite among the priests" is how Edward Bernstein described himself when J. M. Keynes gave him credit for the successful monetary negotiations at Bretton Woods in 1944. In what is essentially oral history, the American economist goes well beyond the title to give an exceptionally interesting account of the key part he also played in other work in the U.S. Treasury-as the first director of research at the International Monetary Fund and in the years when international monetary reform was under way. Bernstein speaks quite frankly of the dozens of people who come into the story, and his own personality shines through the words.
