This book concentrates on changes during the 1980s, the decade of unprecedented money-making; but it has a strong historical perspective, including many comparisons to the late 19th century. The book focuses on particular countries - the US, Japan, Britain, China, Latin America and Africa, and makes use of revealing interviews-in-depth with leading participants in the politics of money during the eighties, including Paul Voicker, Sir James Goldsmith and Akio Morita, which give the authentic inside view of the contemporary history of money. Anthony Sampson is the author of The Anatomy of Britain, The New Europeans, The Sovereign State, The Seven Sisters, The Arms Bazaar, The Money Lenders, Empires of the Sky and Black and Gold.