John Maynard Keynes had an enormous impact on the 20th century. He not only developed
the economic theory that bears his name (and which radically altered the study
of economics), he also spoke out strongly against authoritarian
governments, and he believed that art and
ideas could conquer war and deprivation.
From the peace conference at Versailles in 1919 to the establishment of
an international monetary system at Bretton Woods (1944), Keynes stood at the
heart of Anglo-American finances, waging an incessant battle against the rigid conservative ideas of bankers and academic economists. Two of
his books, The Economic Consequences of
the Peace and The General Theory of
Employment, Interest and Money, greatly influenced the way people and governments thought. In Keynes' life we can see much of the intellectual, political and economic history of the 20th century. This biography situates Keynes’
economic theories in his overall political and philosophical worldview and
situates Keynes himself in the Bloomsbury art and intellectual milieu. Carter also discusses the long reach of Keynes’
ideas in the aftermath of his death, in 1946, to our present day politics .
Week 1: Introduction;
Ch. 1, After the Gold Rush; Ch. 2, Blood Money
Week 2: Ch. 3, Paris
and Its Discontents; Ch. 4, Consequences
Week 3: Ch. 5, From
Metaphysics to Money; Ch. 6, Prolegomena to a New Socialism
Week 4: Ch. 7, The
Great Crash
Week 5: Ch. 8,
Phoenix
Week 6: Ch. 9, The
End of Scarcity
Week 7: Ch. 10, Came
the Revolution
Week 8: Ch. 11, War
and Revolution; Ch. 12, Martyr to the Good Life
Week 9: Ch. 13: The Aristocracy Strikes Back
Week 10: Ch. 14, The
Affluent Society and Its Enemies
Week 11: Ch. 15, The
Beginning of the End
Week 12: Ch. 16, The
Return of the Nineteenth Century
Week 13: Ch. 17, The
Second Gilded Age
Week 14: Conclusion
Zachary D. Carter, The
Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes
(Random House, 2020)