The Eurozone crisis leads today’s news agenda (read William Hague’s take), with evermore dire predictions being made about the future of the single currency and the European Union itself. Many readers may be left uncomprehending as billions turn into trillions, and apparently we can’t count on the BBC for impartiality, so here is your Eurozone crisis reader.
1. Europe: The State of the Union by Anand Menon
Confused by the Commission? Unsure of how a qualified majority vote works? Anand Menon’s book cuts through the jargon, as its publisher puts it, sketching the parameters of an indistinct political system. Menon is not an insider and this means that the book remains simple. It’s the perfect primer in the subject.
2. A Stranger in Europe by Sir Stephan Wall
The insider’s version of Menon’s book and more detailed as a result. Sir Stephen was the UK’s permanent representative at the European Union and the range of knowledge and depth of his insights make this memoir a valuable record of Europe’s relationship with its most turbulent member and of the Eurocracy at work and play.
3. The Politics of the New Global Currency by David Marsh
Marsh is a universally admired economist who has written the definitive history of the formation of the Eurozone. This book reveals all of the wrangles, squabbles and spats that characterised the genesis of the currency zone, while explaining the political and economic rationale behind the euro’s creation. Marsh remains impartial throughout and his book is essential reading for any student of the crisis.
4. Fixing Global Finance by Martin
Wolf
Wolf’s prose is hardly mellifluous, but this wide-ranging account of the global financial crisis is variously described as ‘prescient’, ‘masterful’ and ‘remarkable’ by commentators in the field.
Wolf’s updated second edition is recommended by reviewers and pundits.
5. Just Say No by John Redwood
Redwood’s euroscepticism needs no introduction; indeed, ‘the Vulcan’ was ridiculed for his belief that Britain should steer clear of the single currency. The tables appear to have turned. He laid out his case in Just Say No, a pamphlet published in 2001.
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