The Origins of International Economic Disorder: A Study of United States International Monetary Policy From World War II to the Present

A sociologist who aims to demystify money by relating it to power, Professor Block has dug deep into postwar history, with mixed results. Some useful corrections of commonly accepted views are combined with acceptance of other common distortions of American policy. Military spending is given proper emphasis as a factor in bringing down the dollar. But some good ideas - "national capitalism" as the main enemy of economic internationalism at the end of the war - are left disappointingly undeveloped.