From Library Journal
One gets the impression that recent well-publicized World Trade Organization protests spurred Princeton historian James to write this cautionary book showing how protectionist actions and responses to the changing world trade of the 1920s and 1930s both led to and exacerbated the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. Furthermore, by analyzing the trade, immigration, and monetary policies of Germany, France, Great Britain, and other major countries, he makes a strong case that globalization breeds its own nationalist responses that, if not counteracted, can lead away from free markets and dangerously toward political dictatorship. Reading this book together with the first half of William L. Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich will give real insight into the economic (and sometimes political) reasons for the emergence of fascism and the slide into World War II. He writes with some economic jargon but no math. There are some tables, 27 pages of footnotes, and many citations in the text to other scholars who both support James's view and hold other opinions. While aimed at policymakers and professionals, this book will be understandable to undergraduate economics majors. Highly recommended for academic and economic libraries as well as public libraries with an active history or economic readership. Patrick J. Brunet, Western Wisconsin Technical Coll., La Crosse
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Regardless of whether they applaud its benefits or decry its ill effects, the advocates and detractors of globalization both seem to regard the world's increasing economic interconnectedness as an irreversible trend. James, a history professor at Princeton University and author of
The International Monetary System since Bretton Woods (1996), suggests instead a pendulum effect, noting that "there already have been highly developed and highly integrated international communities that dissolved under the pressure of unexpected events." James argues that the Great Depression was the result in part of the failure of three institutions that had evolved to handle the consequences of an increasingly globalized world: tariff systems, central banks, and immigration legislation. James also detects modern-day parallels in the popular backlash against the World Trade Organization and NAFTA, the collapse of long-term capital management, and the meltdown of Asian economies. Though he does not foresee another depression, James does warn that another reverse of the pendulum might today threaten both peace and prosperity.
David RouseCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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