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This book began life as a sequel to Varoufakis's previous one, The Global Minotaur, in wich he outlined his take on the causes and nature of the 2008 global crash. The author seems to largely absolve the corruption and political incompetence that led to the problems facing his own country – some of which, such as tax collection, are being tackled to an extent post-crisis. And he has the usual misty-eyed conservatism of the far left in much analysis of recent economic history. The Gardian: "Yet he is right to point out that valid questions of sovereignty lie at the heart of Europe. And to argue that the euro was flawed by failing to unite politics and fiscal policy with monetary strategy, that German intransigence on debt has damaged the wider project and, above all, that Greece is being crushed by its rigid and ever-tightening financial straitjacket. Varoufakis – an admirer of John Maynard Keynes – sees the euro as the gold standard reborn, designed to unify nations but driving them apart by widening living standards in different parts of the continent. Britain, he argues, had a lucky escape".

As finance minister, in a governmnent facing emergency circumstances caused by a savage debt-defltionary crisis, I feel that German nation is the one that can understand us Greeks better than anyone else. No one understands better than the people of this land how a severely depressed economy, combined with ritual national humiliation and unending hopelessness, can hatch serpent's egg within one's society.

Yanis Varoufakis

Yanis Varoufakis is a Greek economist, academic and politician, who served as the Greek Minister of Finance from January to July 2015, when he resigned. Varoufakis was also a Syriza Member of the Hellenic Parliament (MP) for Athens B from January to September 2015. Since resigning his post he has become the figurehead of an international grassroots movement, speaking to audiences of thousands in cities across Britain, France, Germany,Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy,Singapore and Russia.

Born in Athens in 1961, he was for many years a professor of economics in Britain, Australia and the USA before he entered government. Hi is currently Professor of Economics at the University of Athens.

Other books:

• And the Weak Suffer What They Must? Europe's crisis, America's economic future
• The Global Minotaur: America, the True Origins of the Financial Crisis and the Future of the World Economy 
• Europe after the Minotaur: Greece and the Future of the Global Economy. 
• Economic Indeterminacy: A personal encounter with the economists' most peculiar nemesis. 
• Modern Political Economics: Making sense of the post-2008 world. 
• Game Theory: Critical Perspectives.
• Foundations of Economics: A beginner's companion. 
• Game Theory: A critical introduction.