The fiber-optic cables that weave the World Wide Web, the copper veins of our electric grids, the silicon chips and lithium batteries that power our phones and though it can feel like we now live in a weightless world of information—what Ed Conway calls “the ethereal world”—our twenty-first-century lives are still very much rooted in the material. Expansive, erudite, and edifying. A stunning insight into the materials that shaped our history and built the modern world -- Prof. Lewis Dartnell, author of 'BEING HUMAN: How our Biology shaped World History' Goes straight on the ‘must-read’ list . . .Conway is one of the most adroit commentators on economics and business of our time.” ― City AM A highly engaging and important look at the key materials powering our modern world, and how we feed our insatiable appetite for them -- Professor Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and ex-Chief Economist of the IMF But what everyone has always assumed to be a dry economic conference was in fact replete with drama. The delegates spent half the time at each other's throats and the other half drinking in the hotel bar. The Russians nearly capsized the entire project. The French threatened to walk out, repeatedly. All the while war in Europe raged on.

I just finished reading Ed Conway's The Summit: Bretton Woods, 1944: J.M. Keynes and the Reshaping of the Global Economy In fact, we dug more stuff out of the earth in 2017 than in all of human history before 1950. For every ton of fossil fuels, we extract six tons of other materials, from sand to stone to wood to metal. And in Material World, Conway embarks on an epicjourney across continents, cultures, and epochs to reveal the underpinnings of modern life on Earth—traveling from the sweltering depths of the deepest mine in Europe to spotless silicon chip factories in Taiwan to the eerie green pools where lithium originates. The delegates to the summit were 730 representing 44 countries. But among the delegates, two economics bigwigs stood out. They are John Maynard Keynes of Britain and the American Harry Dexter White. These are the six most crucial substances in human history. They took us from the Dark Ages to the present day. They power our computers and phones, build our homes and offices, and create life-saving medicines. But most of us take them completely for granted. The comforting fiction of the digital world allows us to ignore this reality, but we do so at our peril, because it is in the material world that the single most important change – climate change – is taking place, and it is only in the material world that the answers to that predicament can be found.The elevator pitch: this is the story of the modern world (and a bit of our history and some glimpses into the future) told through the eyes of the materials we couldn't do without. It's a bit of economics, a bit of geology, a bit of politics, material science and a lot of on-the-ground reporting from all over the world. The other issue was that Britain felt it needed to retain the sovereign decision on how much it might devalue sterling in the future to help British industry regain competitiveness in the postwar world. One can see that the Americans were correct in not letting these British concerns overly shape the design of the new IMF; broad international goals could not be subverted by parochial British interests. Churchill in particularly still clung to the hope that Britain would be able to keep and sustain its vast empire after the war—but literally Britain’s own sterling debts to the empire argued for breakup.

Keynes, of course, came to the summit with unparalleled intellectual credentials. He was, after all, the author of two widely influential economic books: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money and The Economic Consequences of the Peace. But Keynes dominant intellectual force at the conference did not stop him from losing many of the crucial political battles to his American counterpart, Harry Dexter White. The idea of world leaders gathering in the midst of economic crisis has become all too familiar. But the meeting at Bretton Woods in 1944 was different. It was the only time countries from around the world have agreed to overhaul the structure of the international monetary system. Against all odds, they were successful. The system they set up presided over the longest, strongest and most stable period of growth the world economy has ever seen. Its demise some decades later was at least partly responsible for the periodic economic crises that culminated in the financial collapse of the 2000s. There are two possible responses to the end of war: one is revenge and the other is to rebuild the economies and societies for everyone’s benefit. With regard to rebuilding, success demands that both victor and vanquished be rebuilt. The job can’t be half done. They are two sides of the same coin. The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 went the first way and got it wrong. The Bretton Woods Conference of 1944 went the second way and midwifed decades of worldwide economic progress. A side observation is that the Bush administration in the wake of its 2003 Iraq invasion got it all wrong all over again, not even understanding that meaningful economic growth was even relevant to the Middle East when its absence had been a driver of much of the misery in the region for decades. This is a properly fascinating balance of macro and micro scale revelations about the more practical, physical side of how the world works - and what that means for everything and everyone on the planet.Conway's gripping explanation of a world you didn't know needed explaining deserves this highest of accolades: Material World, once read, leaves us baffled that nobody ever thought of writing it before -- Matthew Parris Shot throughout the book is the issue of the climate and environmental emergency and the urgent question of the survival of our global interconnected civilization, or even human life in general. Conway's writing style is both accessible and informative, making complex topics like resource economics and geopolitics approachable to a wide audience. Conway carefully dissects each material, explaining its historical significance and its impact on contemporary society. Conway’s gripping explanation of a world you didn’t know needed explaining deserves this highest of accolades: Material World, once read, leaves us baffled that nobody ever thought of writing it before.” —Matthew Parris, author of Fracture

Edmund Conway's "Material World" is a compelling and thought-provoking examination of the fundamental raw materials that underpin our modern civilization. In a world where the supply and demand for resources are critical to global economies, this book sheds light on the importance of six key materials: concrete, steel, oil, gold, food, and water. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook " The Summit: Bretton Woods, 1944: J.M.Keynes and the Reshaping of the Global Economy" for it's historical perspective. I'd heard of Bretton Woods before, but wouldn't have been able to describe it's details to anyone. So learning a little more about the economic conference, it's purpose, the key players, especially British Economist John Maynard Keynes and American Harry Dexter White, was worthwhile. I also hadn't realized that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were founded at Bretton Woods.As we wrestle with climate change, energy crises and the threat of new global conflict, Conway shows why these substances matter more than ever before, and how the hidden battle to control them will shape our geopolitical future. This is the story of civilisation - our ambitions and glory, innovations and appetites - from a new perspective: literally from the ground up. Harry Dexter White, unknown by comparison, was brilliant, too. He was also almost equally capable of alienating those he worked with. He, and to be fair his progressive policies, made sworn enemies within the State Department, which frequently complicated and sometimes undermined international negotiations. He was also a Soviet spy. Though not a Communist, he shared the prevailing view within the American Left from the 1930s through the end of World War II that the USSR was advancing the interests of humanity. However, unlike most other progressives, White found his way into the arms of the NKVD (predecessor to the KGB and today’s FSB). Over the years, he handed over reams of sensitive documents to his handler in the Soviet Embassy — though, reportedly, nothing top secret. Following World War II, White was caught up in the Red Scare sweeping the country and driven from his government job. Sharing the below from another review because it was accurate and I felt similarly. High level, this was an interesting story of pre, during, and post-summit international monetary/economics. Monetary systems have evolved over time, from true gold standards, to the pseudo standard of BW (US linked to gold, other currencies linked to US), to true floating currencies. The book didn't go into great detail on this, but perhaps if the US hadn't spent so much in Vietnam (bad decisions) or instituted such significant social programs under Kennedy and Johnson (some good, some bad), the gold standard wouldn't have been problematic for the US, and BW may have survived because Nixon wouldn't have had to close the gold window. History is always interesting. The other nugget detailed at length in the book but not mentioned in the other review is about how the World Bank and IMF were both born out of BW, and how Keynes and White let the charge on their formation and intentions, even if those intentions changed from what those institutions ultimately became. Overall, an interesting read. I may have liked a bit more detail on why the currency/monetary systems needed to change over time, but the personality driven narrative was a good way to keep interest for the reader. Fascinating . . . Lucidly shows the scale of the environmental problem and the irony of new demand created by efforts to wean ourselves off oil on to batteries.” —John Gapper, Financial Times Ed Conway is a great thinker... Material World is an engrossing study of the basic substances on which we all depend. Anyone who cares about the resources which built our world and where mankind is heading must read this vital book -- Adam Boulton, Times Radio