A highly readable account of the collision between sovereign states and global economic forces for the control of money. Throughout the ages money was a prerogative of national sovereignty and currency management was the responsibility of governments. Bretton Woods provided the post-war framework for intergovernmental monetary cooperation until the banking community, using the Eurodollar as an international medium of exchange, forced governments to adopt a regime of floating rates in the 1970s. The book describes the development of the Eurodollar market and the consequences for world finance as a new breed of financiers and currency traders radically changed the nature of international banking.

ARMAND VAN DORMAEL joined the American company Sears, Roebuck in 1949 and was appointed head of the European buying organization with headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. He thus acquired over 25 years direct experience of international trade. The monetary crises of the 1970s led him to search for a rational analysis of the structure of international finance. His book Bretton Woods: Birth of a Monetary System became a standard reference, described by The Economist as absorbing. an intriguing story and by the THES as the best scholarly work on the subject.