The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914-1924

by Gerald D. Feldman

This book presents a comprehensive study of the most famous and spectacular instance of inflation in modern industrial society--that in Germany during and following World War I. A broad, probing narrative, this book studies inflation as a strategy of social pacification and economic reconstruction and as a mechanism for escaping domestic and international indebtedness. The Great Disorder is a study of German society under the tension of inflation and hyperinflation, and it explores the ways in which Germany's hyperinflation and stabilization were linked to the Great Depression and the rise of National Socialism. This wide-ranging study sets German inflation within the broader issues of maintaining economic stability, social peace, and democracy and thus contributes to the general history of the twentieth century and has important implications for existing and emerging market economies facing the temptation or reality of inflation.

Genres: Economics, History, Germany, Nonfiction

1040 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1993

About the author

Gerald Donald Feldman was an American historian who specialized in 20th-century German history. He was Jane K. Sather professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley, and received several prizes and honors, including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.