This volume begins with an essay by Michael Tucker that artistically depicts the events leading up to the creation of the Bretton Woods System and its aftermath. The primary purposes of the Bretton Woods agreement, which occurred in 1944, were to “protect fragile currencies, provide increased stability and predictability to the world’s economies, and… encourage free markets.” To meet these goals, the agreement established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and pegged the USD as the world’s reserve currency. Marie Gould expands on the roles of the USD and the IMF shortly after the creation of the Bretton Woods System before Simone I. Flynn shifts the volume’s focus to the gold standard. He proceeds to analyze the pre-World War I gold standard and the post-World War I gold exchange standard before contrasting fiat currency, namely that of the United States, and gold currency.