Catherine Schenk has written a highly readable and lucid survey of international economic relations since the end of the Second World War. The book begins with an explanation of Anglo-American plans to establish a new international economic architecture in which the International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (The World Bank), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade were the main pillars. Four chronological chapters follow, beginning with the halcyon days of global economic growth (1950–1973), two periods of crisis (1973–1985 and 1995–1999), and the second wave of globalization (1985–1995), achieved roughly a century after the first wave of globalization had crested. The book ends with an up-to-date assessment of where we are now (2000+), making no predictions but open to the possibility of further crises.
Schenk's study is succinct at 157 pages of text, including many useful graphs and tables. Short studies need a focus....