Friedman and Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States,
1867-1960, published in 1963, stands as one of the most
influential economics books of the twentieth century. A landmark
achievement, the book marshaled massive historical data and
sharp analytics to support the claim that monetary policy--
steady control of the money supply--matters profoundly in the
management of the nation's economy, especially in navigating
serious economic fluctuations. The chapter entitled "The Great
Contraction, 1929-33" addressed the central economic event of
the century, the Great Depression. Published as a stand-alone
paperback in 1965, The Great Contraction, 1929-1933 argued that
the Federal Reserve could have stemmed the severity of the
Depression, but failed to exercise its role of managing the
monetary system and ameliorating banking panics. The book served
as a clarion call to the monetarist school of thought by
emphasizing the importance of the money supply in the
functioning of the economy--a concept that has com