America, Roosevelt and the Causes of the Present War

In America, Roosevelt and the Causes of the Present War, Ezra Pound presents his controversial interpretation of the economic forces behind modern warfare, arguing that monetary systems, banking, debt, and what he calls “usurocracy” are essential to understanding political history. Moving from colonial paper money and the American Revolution through the struggle over banking in the nineteenth century, Pound connects American monetary history with the origins of twentieth-century conflict and the Second World War. Written originally in Italian during the war and first published in Venice in 1944, the pamphlet reflects Pound’s highly polemical wartime political and economic views and his contention that the causes of war cannot be understood without examining the control and creation of money. The English edition was translated by John Drummond.