The Downfall of Money

Germany’s Hyperinflation and the Destruction of the Middle Class

By: Frederick Taylor

Narrated by: Gordon Griffin

Bloomsbury presents The Downfall of Money by Frederick Taylor, read by Gordon Griffin

A hundred years ago, many theorists believed--just as they did at the beginning of our twenty-first century--that the world had reached a state of economic perfection, a never before seen human interdependence that would lead to universal growth and prosperity. Then, as now, the German mark was one of the most trusted currencies in the world. Yet the early years of the Weimar Republic in Germany witnessed the most calamitous meltdown of a developed economy in modern times. The Downfall of Money will tell anew the dramatic story of the hyperinflation that saw the mark--worth 4.2 to the dollar in 1914--plunge, until it traded at over 4 trillion to 1 by the autumn of 1923.

The story of the Weimar Republic’s financial crisis clearly resonates today, when the world is again anxious about what money is, what it means, and how we can judge if its value is true. It is a trajectory of events uncomfortably relevant in our own uncertain world.

Frederick Taylor--one of the leading historians of Germany writing today--explores the causes of the crisis and what the collapse meant to ordinary people, and traces its connection to the dark decades that followed. Drawing on a wide range of sources and accessibly presenting vast amounts of research, The Downfall of Money is a timely and chilling exploration of a haunting episode in history.©2013 Frederick Taylor (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Critic reviews

Firm and rightly grounded in its own time and place, The Downfall of Money nonetheless resonates in our own.

One of the brightest historians writing today

Taylor (Dresden) adds to a solid body of work on 20th-century Germany with this chilling account of the human face of hyperinflation in the 1920s Weimar Republic.

Excellent . . . By skillfully weaving together economic history with political narrative and drawing on sources from everyday life as well as the inner cabinet of diplomacy, Mr. Taylor tells the history of the Weimar inflation as the life-and-death struggle of the first German democracy . . . This is a dramatic story, well told. (Adam Tooze)

A well-organized, fast-moving political narrative . . . Taylor's history provides plenty of relevant lessons for today--and not only for Europe.

Exorcising Hitler has . . . colorful anecdotes and harrowing recollections, an omnivorous intelligence and wide reading in the scholarly literature.

Important . . . very commendable . . . fills an important gap in German history in English.