Originally commissioned by Ezra Pound, whose short introduction appears here for the first time, the book made a brief appearance in an earlier version, 1952, which was supressed, the German version even being burnt en masse. Finally, after years of travails, this updated and expanded new edition was able to be published, and dedicated to Pound, who, owing to his status in 1952, had to remain in the background. Per the publisher's note, the author proves that a group of international bankers, headquartered in London, secretly met on Jekyll Island, Georgia in 1910 and drafted the Federal Reserve Act to gain control of the money and credit of the American people, then bought up shares in the Federal Reserve Banks, and had themselves appointed to its Board of Governors. They then launched World War I, financed the Russian Revolution, Soviet Union and Hitler's rise to power, and essentially caused the Great Depression. The book is brought up to date (1983) by an expose of the players in the Ronald Reagan administration, including George W Bush, George Schultz and Caspar Weinberger, both associated with Bechtel Corporation.