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16 - Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, and Popular Perceptions of the First World War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2023

By
Jonathan Boff
Edited by
Patricia Clavin ,
Giancarlo Corsetti ,
Maurice Obstfeld  and
Adam Tooze
Patricia Clavin
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Giancarlo Corsetti
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Maurice Obstfeld
Affiliation:
Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington DC
Adam Tooze
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
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Summary

This chapter reviews the ideas and reception of Keynes’s The Economic Consequences of the Peace. It focuses on a single, as yet untold, aspect: how Economic Consequences fits into the context of debates about the construction of the memory of the Great War. It asks: ‘What role did Keynes and The Economic Consequences of the Peace play in the formation of the “futility myth” which dominates British popular perception of the First World War to this day?’

Keywords

KeynesEconomic ConsequencesFirst World WarGreat WarWWILiteraturePacifismFutilityMythMemory Studies
Type
Chapter
Information
Keynes's Economic Consequences of the Peace after 100 Years
Polemics and Policy
 , pp. 421 - 442
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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