When, in August 1932, a reporter for the Saturday Evening Post asked John Maynard Keynes if there had ever been anything like this before, he replied, “Yes. It was called the Dark Ages and it lasted four hundred years.” LORDS OF FINANCE tells the story of how incredibly stupid financial decisions caused the Great Depression and World War II. Liaquat Ahamed’s brilliant financial history of the economic catastrophes of the early 20th Century holds lessons for our present economic meltdown. This is not only a great piece of financial analysis, this book brings history to life.