TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, April 29, 1920.—“Mr. Keynes ... has violently attacked the whole work of those who made the Treaty in a book which exhibits every kind of ability except the political kind.... Mr. Keynes knows everything except the elements of politics, which is the science of discovering, and the art of accomplishing, the practicable in public affairs.”
TIMES (“Annual Financial and Commercial Review”), Jan. 28, 1921.—“The almost unhealthy greed with which Mr. Keynesʼs book on The Economic Consequences of the Peace was devoured in a dozen countries was but a symptom of the new desire to appreciate, and, if possible, to cope with, the economic consequences not only of the peace but of the war.”
LIVERPOOL COURIER, Feb. 2, 1921.—“In the eyes of the world—at least, of the world that is not pro–German—the reparation costs are wholly inadequate. It is true that in the eyes of Mr. J. M. Keynes it is wicked to charge Germany with the cost of war pensions, but we imagine that the average man with a simple sense of simple justice does not agree with Mr. Keynes.”
“Realist” in the ENGLISH REVIEW, March 1921.—“The operation of indemnity–payment must be followed through to its remorseless end.... The cry ‘Germany must pay’ has still a good healthy sound about it.”
ENGLISH REVIEW, June 1921.—“What Mr. Maynard Keynes predicted in his remarkable book is coming only too true. All over Europe the nations are standing to arms, thinking boundaries, while trade languishes, production stagnates, and credit lapses into the relativities.”
American
Joseph P. Cotton in the EVENING POST, New York, Jan. 30, 1920.—“Mr. Keynesʼs book is the first good book on peace and the reconstruction of Europe. The writing is simple and sincere and true ... a great book with a real message.”
Paul D. Cravath in the SUN AND NEW YORK HERALD, Feb. 2, 1920.—“No English novel during or since the war has had such a success as this book. It should be read by every thoughtful American. It is the first serious discussion of the Peace Treaty by a man who knows the facts and is capable of discussing them with intelligence and authority.”
Harold J. Laski in the NATION, New York, Feb. 7, 1920.—“This is a very great book. If any answer can be made to the overwhelming indictment of the Treaty that it contains, that answer has yet to be published. Mr. Keynes writes with a fullness of knowledge, an incisiveness of judgment, and a penetration into the ultimate causes of economic events that perhaps only half–a-dozen living economists might hope to rival. Nor is the manner of his book less remarkable than its substance. The style is like finely-hammered steel. It is full of unforgettable phrases and of vivid portraits etched in the biting acid of a passionate moral indignation.”
F. W. Taussig, Harvard University, in the QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Feb. 1920.—“Mr. Keynes needs no introduction to economists. The high quality of his work is known. This book shows the sure touch, the wide interests, the independent judgment, which we expect. It shows, also, fine spirit and literary skill.... Coming to the economic provisions of the Treaty, I find myself in general accord with what Mr. Keynes says. He makes out an estimate of what Germany can do in the way of reparation.... The maximum cannot, in his judgment, exceed ten billions of dollars. Some such figure, it is not improper to say, was reached independently by Professor A. A. Young in his estimates for the American financial advisers.”