4/5

As usual, Tooze erupts onto a topic with the sort of clear sighted analysis that leaves most other authors looking like contemptible fence-sitters. The agonizing failure of the EU project’s ability to confront the global financial crisis and see themselves as a key part of a truly global system is likely the strongest theme in the whole book. The secondary narrative of the United States political system buckling under it’s own weight while it’s administrative system pushes the envelope of crisis fighting does certainly take center stage in the last third of the book. Ultimately some of the conclusions are harder to square now that we have lived through the COVID crisis, Chinese housing market crash and the all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is an excellent piece to read and compare with The Deluge, to see just how far we have come since 1929 but also how little our politics have evolved to meet the challenges of a globalized world.