cover image Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe

Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe

James K. Galbraith. Yale Univ., $26 (232p) ISBN 978-0-300-22044-5

This insider’s account gives a step-by-step narration of Greece in crisis from 2010 through October 2015 as the country rebelled against, then finally capitulated to, European Union dictates to repay the national debt. Galbraith, a University of Texas economist, served as advisor to Greece’s finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, during the crisis. He even helped draft the secret “Plan X” in case Greece needed to exit the Euro. Galbraith argues that the EU’s austerity measures will not only cripple Greece economically—ensuring eventual default or defection from the Euro—but destabilize European unity and encourage right-wing extremism. Galbraith unveils what the European Central Bank’s euphemistic terms really mean for Greece: an increase in the value-added tax rate to 23% (driving tourism, Greece’s largest industry, elsewhere), depressed wages and pensions, loan defaults, and liquidity crises. Moreover, this economic death spiral could spread to other EU countries. Whatever the outcome, this is an eloquent and informed chronicle of the Greek debt crisis for current readers and future historians. Agent: Wendy Strothman, Strothman Agency. (June)