The route of all evil - Meghnad Desai

In his fresh analysis of Ezra Pounds thought, Meghnad Desai separates the gold dust in Pounds economic writings from the dross of his anti-semitic diatribes. He shows how fresh and radical Pounds economics was in the years of the Great Depression. And he traces how, as the Second World War came nearer, Pound transformed himself first of all into a self-styled guru who could end the war if only America would listen
and then into a bitter, rejected, hateful Cassandra.Ezra Pound was a major figure in the American and European literary world in the last century. He was also notoriously indicted for treason in a US court
but judged unfit to stand trial and incarcerated in a mental hospital for thirteen years. His anti-semitic and fascist views are well-known.But he also wrote a great deal of economics. He championed the Social Credit schemes of Major Douglas and proposed his own plans for restoring full employment in the middle of the Great Depression. His economic writings span nearly two decades and range from the nature of money to the evils of banks monopoly over credit creation and the debilitating effects of Usury. His views on money are part of a rich tradition of monetary heterodoxy which argues that money and monetary authorities should be made to serve the people rather than be slaves to financial prudence.The Route of All Evil will restore Pounds relevance as a radical economist who has much to offer those who protest against the injustice of Third World Debt and the Washington Consensus, participants in the World Social Forum, and everyone interested in heterodox economics.