An accessible introduction to a key aspect in economic history the impact of American financial intervention in Europe after the Second World War Did American dollars save the world in 1947 Would Europe have revived spontaneously after 1945 If the Marshall Plan in conjunction with NATO created a coherent and prosperous western bloc was this critical for the outcome of the Cold War Did American policy in some way cause the substantial convergence since 1945 intransatlantic productivity incomes and living styles or was this convergence bound to happen anyway These are important questions to which this careful analysis provides some new and provocative answers Covering all the main areas of immediate post war US policy in Europe it includes useful material on the Bretton Woods debates the American loan negotiation with Britain as well as the Marshall Plan