Few events short of war have changed the course of history. The decisions taken between August 13 and 15, 1971, at a secret meeting at Camp David, was one of those occasions. Before that weekend, the U.S. had promised to redeem any dollar held by foreign governments into gold. That solemn commitment, made in a treaty right after World War II, was the lynchpin of an international monetary system that bankers and investors the world over counted on. Based on extensive historical research and interviews with several men who were at Camp David, and with the perspective of someone who has held posts in four presidential administrations and worked well over a decade on Wall Street, in THE WEEKEND THAT CHANGED THE WORLD Jeffrey Garten takes readers through the history, and the major players involved, that resulted in such a critical turning point of the last half of the twentieth century. By the end you’ll never again see the American economy and its links to the global arena, nor contemplate what’s coming down the road in the world economy, in the same way.