In desperation, the Bavarian Prime Minister submitted a Bill to the Reichsrat proposing that gluttony be made a penal offence, his exact definition of a glutton being 'one who habitually devotes himself to the pleasures of the table to such a degree that he might arouse discontent in view of the distressful condition of the population'.Since its first publication in 1975, When Money Dies has become the classic history of these bizarre and frightening times. Expensive cigars, artworks and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal, and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. Thus must sound money be the first bastion of a society's defence.In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4, 200, 000, 000, 000 marks), the Weimar Republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. It goes far to prove the revolutionary axiom that if you wish to destroy a nation you must corrupt its currency. His tale begins not, as would be popularly assumed, in the aftermath of Germany's political and military collapse in 1918 (by which point the mark had halved against the pound) but in the original decision to fund the war effort largely through debt-a decision with uncomfortable contemporary parallels (one of many in this book) tailor-made for today's end-timers.This is, I believe, a moral tale. Fergusson adds valuable nuance to a familiar story. The death of the German mark (it took 20 of them to buy a British pound in 1914 but 310 billion in late 1923) plays a key part in the dark iconography of the 20th century: Images of kindling currency and economic chaos are an essential element in our understanding of the rise of Hitler. Just another manifestation of the financial millenarianism now sweeping the land? Perhaps, but 'When Money Dies' remains a fascinating and disturbing book. Now back in print, this once obscure book from 1975 has been selling briskly.

There were (false) reports of kind words about it from Warren Buffett. In early 2010, Adam Fergusson's long-out-of-print volume was trading online for four-figure sums.

It says something about present anxieties that a 35-year-old account of Weimar hyperinflation has come into vogue.

Adam ferguson when money dies