When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Hyperinflation

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER ABOUT THE GERMAN HYPERINFLATION

In December 1923, with its currency all but worthless - one dollar bought 4,200,000,000,000 marks - Weimar Germany was reduced to a barter economy. Artworks and jewels were exchanged for bread and flour; a cinema ticket could be purchased for a lump of coal. The Bavarian PM submitted a Bill to the Reichsrat proposing that gluttony be made a penal offence, since it might 'arouse discontent in view of the distressful condition of the population'.

When Money Dies is the classic history of these bizarre and frightening times. It deals with the human side of inflation: why governments resort to it; the dismal, corruptive pestilence it visits on their citizens; the agonies of recovery; and the dark, long-term legacy. At a time of acute economic strain, it provides an urgent warning against the addictive dangers of printing money as a soft option for governments faced with growing unrest and unemployment.