Globalisation is a choice, not a fact. It is the result of policy decisions and the politics that shape them. Jeffry A. Frieden's insightful history explores the golden age of globalisation during the early years of the twentieth century, its swift collapse in the crises of 1914-1945, the divisions of the Cold War world and the turn again towards global integration at the end of the century. His history is full of character and event, as entertaining as it is enlightening.