This is a comparative study of the origins, course and consequences of the deepest economic crisis in modern European history. Written with the non-economist in mind, the book explores recent research into the causes of the depression, notably the gold standard system, which helped to turn recession into profound depression and to transmit its effects around the world. The book gives equal weight to the political and historical context of economic policy - political attitudes and expectations, institutional opinions, strategic considerations, the legacies and lessons of history - to explain why European countries chose nationalist routes to recovery. International co-operation offered the best chance for recovery, and the book also contains a lively account of why this failed, and its consequences for international relations in the 1930s.