The Economic Consequences of the Peace was written by Maynard Keynes in
1919 following his resignation as Treasury representative at the Peace
Conference at Versailles. It was this work that first made Maynard
Keynes's name a household word, a figure of hatred and public criticism
to some, a rallying point for rational thought and action to others.
Written in the white heat of anger and despair, it vividly conveys to
later generations Keynes's horror that clear thinking, human compassion
and solemn pledges had been, in his eyes, destroyed by political
opportunism.