The clutch of books that have been sent for review to Central Banking over the past few months make uncomfortable reading in the aftermath of the conquest of Iraq by the United States and Britain in the first war of the 21st century. They document how the West, and especially the United States, has always seen finance as an instrument of political control, and not just as a neutral coordinating mechanism for markets. But they also suggest that the West has been unable to tame the wild forces set