Nearly every professional economist and most of the public today believe that ""laissez-faire capitalism"" was to blame for the 1929-1940 depression; in fact, that tragic experience is usually pointed to as proof that the free-enterprise system is, inherently, faulty, and perhaps doomed. The purpose of this book is to prove the exact opposite; basing his theory squarely on the teachings of the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, who held that business cycles and depressions are the result of disturbances generated in the market by monetary intervention"" this author is able to conclude that ""The guilt for the Great Depression must, at long last, be lifted from the shoulders of the free market economy, and placed where it properly belongs: t the doors of politicians, bureaucrats, and the mass of 'enlightened' economists. And in any other depression, past or future, the story will be the same."" It is quite a noble purpose, and valiantly served but whether or not the crucial questions raised in the course of it have finally been answered is in the last analysis a matter for simple faith. This ""no interference"" theory of government of course runs as counter to our present practice as Marxist-Leninism does. Whatever one feels about the premises, no one will deny that by concentrating on the period 1921-1933 and the specific economic causes of the Crash, this book fills a gap in the existing literature.