Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes

A page-turning biography of world-changing economist John Maynard Keynes and the transformative concepts that outlived him On the daybreak of World Struggle I, a younger educational named John Maynard Keynes rapidly folded his lengthy legs into the sidecar of his brother-in-law’s bike for an odd, frantic journey that might change the course of historical past. Swept away from his placid dwelling at Cambridge College by the currents of the battle, Keynes discovered himself thrust into the halls of European treasuries to rearrange emergency loans and packed off to America to barter the phrases of financial fight. The phobia and nervousness unleashed by the warfare would rework him from a snug obscurity into probably the most influential and controversial mental of his day–a man whose concepts nonetheless retain the facility to shock in our personal time. Keynes was not solely an economist however the preeminent anti-authoritarian thinker of the 20 th century, one who devoted his life to the idea that artwork and concepts may conquer warfare and deprivation. As an ethical thinker, political theorist, and statesman, Keynes led a unprecedented life that took him from intimate turn-of-the-century events in London’s riotous Bloomsbury artwork scene to the fevered negotiations in Paris that formed the Treaty of Versailles, from inventory market crashes on two continents to diplomatic breakthroughs within the mountains of New Hampshire to wartime ballet openings at London’s extravagant Covent Backyard. Alongside the way in which, Keynes reinvented Enlightenment liberalism to fulfill the harrowing crises of the 20 th century. In the US, his concepts turned the muse of a burgeoning economics occupation, however additionally they turned a flash level within the broader political wrestle of the Chilly Struggle, as Keynesian acolytes confronted off in opposition to conservatives in an mental battle for the way forward for the country–and the world. Although many Keynesian concepts survived the wrestle, a lot of the challenge to which he devoted his life was misplaced. On this riveting biography, veteran journalist Zachary D. Carter reveals the misplaced legacy of one among historical past’s most fascinating minds. The Worth of Peace revives a forgotten set of concepts about democracy, cash, and the great life with transformative implications for at the moment’s debates over inequality and the facility politics that form the worldwide order.