There Will Be the Devil to Pay

‘You may think that you know the 1931 financial crisis. But Per Hansen’s colourful ‘thick description’ places the crisis in a new light. Hansen pushes back against dominant narratives, highlighting the climate of radical uncertainty in which central bankers were forced to act. By bringing the crisis alive, he helps us see it in a new way.’ Barry Eichengreen, University of California, Berkeley ‘The crisis of 1931 is a seminal moment in financial history that has attracted historians for decades. Hansen provides a fresh perspective by focusing on the individuals involved, and how they made sense of the crisis as it unfolded. The result is a very readable and forensic narrative, focused on central bankers from the US and Britain as well as the nascent Bank for International Settlements. A valuable addition to our understanding of central banking in crisis.’ Catherine R. Schenk, University of Oxford ‘Imagining how people in the past understood their world is a major challenge for the historian. Based on a novel methodology, inspired by social science as well as history, Per Hansen offers a stimulating new perspective on events we thought we knew well. Most of all, he shows how much we miss when we ignore the words of historical actors or read them only through our own interpretative frames.’ Mary O’Sullivan, University of Geneva ‘The year 1931 witnessed the worst financial crisis of the twentieth century. Per Hansen’s vivid account describes how central bankers struggled to save the financial and monetary system under conditions of radical uncertainty, with a special focus on their prior beliefs, blind spots and adapting narratives. This ‘thick description’ is, so far, the most precise and realistic report of the annus horribilis.’ Tobias Straumann, University of Zurich