This is a first-rate comparative study of the very different relations between governments and central banks in Germany, France and Italy. The general conclusions about the results of the mix of dependence and independence each bank has had are not very surprising, but the great value of the book lies in the quite detailed analysis of the interplay of governments, banks and publics since the early 1970s. External as well as internal pressures are taken into account and there is special attention to the slow process that this author from the Harvard Business School sees as moving "toward a European Central Bank."