As a Cambridge philosopher and economist, Keynes spent his days moving between government service and academia. When he was called up to the Treasury on the eve of World War I, he relished an opportunity to save the empire. With the disastrous Versailles Treaty, with its harsh demands for German reparations, Keynes saw how the strain on its citizens might encourage would-be authoritarians. In a career that spanned two world wars and a global depression,...

"In a hotel room in the middle of the night, Abby, a young feminist economist, lies awake next to her sleeping husband and daughter. Anxious that she is grossly underprepared for a talk she is presenting tomorrow on optimism and John Maynard Keynes, she has resolved to practice by using an ancient rhetorical method of assigning parts of her speech to different rooms in her house, and has brought along a comforting albeit imaginary companion to keep...

Twentieth-century warfare, based on new technologies and vast armies, saw the locomotive power of war heightened to an unprecedented level. Through the unique prism of this vast tragedy, Peter Clarke examines some of the most influential figures of the day, on both sides of the Atlantic. I.