The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the World Economy (Economic Controversies) Paperback – July 15, 2015

This man is a delight to read. He is perhaps a sconce more to the left politically than me, but he has my sympathies and his description of the functioning of the American system in world finance from world war II to the present (at least to about 2010) is superb. I would love to see him update his views to 2016 because the mythical beast he declared mortally wounded in the crash of 2008 still, it seems, has some life left in it, but its thrashing around has left deep social and political marks on both the U.S. in the present election season and throughout Europe. If you are looking for an overview of the global macro economic situation this would be a good place to start. Non technical and an easy read. The author tells a great tale.

Utilising the metaphor of a crazed, half-human monster that regularly devours human sacrifices to ensures it docility in its labyrinth prison, Varoufakis paints a lurid picture of the US-led global economy that crashed so spectacularly in 2008 and has been revived but kept in the ICU ever since. Varoufakis summarizes the arc of the US economy in three chunks. He starts in the lead up to the Crash of 1929, the war-inspired upsurge of America to global economic and military eminence under the Global Plan that lasted until 1971, and finally its replacement by the hell-bent push for more and more in the era of the Global Minotaur that collapsed in 2008. Varoufakis uses a scholarly, though easy-to-follow, and engaging style to bring the reader into the tumultuous events and personalities that defined each period covered.It's an entertaining educational work that's worthy of a thorough study, just don't look here for hope or prescriptions to fix capitalism's many continuing ailments. Ostensibly this was written for the lay student of economics, but a rudimentary grounding of economics will arm the reader well as Varoufakis doesn't provide a glossary of repeatedly used terms throughout the book. The Zed 2015 edition has many tiny charts and graphs in shades of grey that are hard to clearly read or discern their implied import.

This is the third book I have read by this author. He simply nails it with his overview of the capital markets. I initially heard several interviews with him and became hooked. I am a fan of his for life!

The Global Minotaur is a fantastic read! It basically historicizes the Great Depression in the United States, and then goes onto explain how the global financial meltdown of 2008 happened, and how it was 'resolved' by governmental intervention. I think what makes this particular piece stand out from the other literature is that it incorporates Europe into the mix. I have often found that others will write about Germany and Japan (as did Varoufakis) post WWII, but you'll never really hear about how Europe handled the 08' financial meltdown.In short, I would definitely recommend this book!

This is perhaps the most readable and well argued book on the world economy I have read. Being European it is surprising how much Yanis have to say about EU before his short tenure.

You don't have to agree with Varoufakis' analysis (I happen to disagree with them but only on the micro level: broadly I think he's right on) to learn a couple of important things about the crisis of 2008. These two things are worth reading the book for ALONE:1) Trade imbalances (and what causes them) is the source of nearly all the world's economic instability. Most of economic planning revolves around what to do about them (see 2 below)2) Since WWII, the world economy has been carefully planned, from top to bottom, largely by the US, Japan and Germany. This plan was called The Bretton Woods System and Veroufakis explains it plainly and clearly with the right level of detail. Anyone who yaks on about how the US is an economic powerhouse because of its "free markets" doesn't know what they are talking about.Lastly, Veroufakis discusses two inherent problems with Capitalism that are the root causes of 1 and 2, above. I won't tell you what they are, you'll have to read the book. It's rather interesting and dives directly to heart of many sacred cows of our civilization. Read it an decide for yourself.

I just hope some of Americas policy-makers get the message! It's all about what it takes to make capitalism work at this point in our epic! All we need is a rational Global Surplus Recycling Mechanism (and a pair of ruby slippers would be nice, too!)

This is an excellent book. The topic may be rather difficult. However, as an economist the author does a great job at explaining the subject. This book is very timely considering the economic and political times we are in.