G. Edward Griffin

Disappointed. I was looking for an in-depth history and discussion on the inner workings of the Fed. In my opinion, the book was half-novel (researched as such - thin and dated bibliography), and some historical fact (although I found conflicting information, e.g. regarding the Lousitania sinking), but also after reading extended and well researched bios on Wilson, Coolidge, and Hoover, much of the author's depiction of these men seemed nothing like what I have previously read about them.

While I don't discount the conspiracy theory aspect of the book completely, the idea of closet-Socialists posing as Capitalists trying to create a world government seems like he's got it backwards.

In a nutshell, if you are a strong proponent of laissez faire capitialism and the free market, you will love this book. Fro,m the authors perspective, basically all of the world's problems are because of communists/socialist and if we just have the where-with-all, the free-market will be a panacea for all of our economic ills.

I wanted to give this book a 3, because I think there is some good in it, but the constant blaming of the socialists became old after a while. In my opinion, all isms have strengths and weeknesses. Why not use the best parts of each instead of trying to make one size fit all?… (mere)

I thought it was a fine book, though not as great as its fans think it is. I found some of it quite fascinating, particularly relationships between the Fed and the bank of England. However I find Griffin's nationalism disgusting. It seems to shroud much of his understanding of history, economics, and politics. He also repeatedly talks about problems of capitalism, yet for some reason calls its socialism. (Like bankers and big corporations controlling entire economizes and political structures). My other concern is that this book was frist published in the 1990s, and although having been updated several time since then it is extremely out of date. Checks are near non-existent in 2021 in the US and have been for decades in much of the rest of the world. Younger audiences will have trouble following at all.

The story line of war and its preparatory was also interesting and a different look. He makes a decent argument that environmentalism is the "socialists" new substitute for war, but I think he under estimates the number of "Americans" who would totally believe an alien invasion.… (mere)