SKU: 42533277191

Amantii Tru View Bespoke 45" 3-Sided Indoor / Outdoor Electric Fireplace

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Description

Amantii Tru View Bespoke 45" 3-Sided Indoor / Outdoor Electric FireplaceIntroducing the Tru View Bespoke series from Amantii Electric, the ultimate in electric fireplaces, using cutting edge technology and innovation to provide instant heat, realistic flames and adaptive ambiance to your living space. The Tru View Bespoke is the outstanding result of extensive research and development, meticulous attention to detail, and the highest standard of quality. With a host of innovative features, our electric fireplaces are

Introducing the Tru View Bespoke series from Amantii Electric, the ultimate in electric fireplaces, using cutting edge technology and innovation to provide instant heat, realistic flames and adaptive ambiance to your living space.

The Tru View Bespoke is the outstanding result of extensive research and development, meticulous attention to detail, and the highest standard of quality. With a host of innovative features, our electric fireplaces are unrivalled in their class.

A versatile design that can be installed in a multitude of ways; connect multiple units to make a bold statement.

Unlike other fireplaces, the Tru View Bespoke features customizable installation and connectable units for a grand masterpiece. With the replace, optional connection pieces come included.

Instant heat at your fingertips.

Part of the Tru View Bespoke design is to ensure that the replace offers clear and simple controllability. While functionality may have advanced and become more dynamic, we believe intuitive interaction is paramount.

The Tru View Bespoke can be controlled in three ways:

  • Manually using the multi function control panel discretely located on the replace.
  • With the intuitive remote control
  • Through your smart device using WiFi connectivity. With WiFi connectivity, enhance your experience with our smart app that enables you to control your replace from anywhere! The app allows you to set tailored programs, schedule on/off times, set temperatures, design custom light effects and so much more.


Tru View Bespoke – 45″ Indoor / Outdoor, WiFi Enabled, Bluetooth Capable 3 Sided Fireplace – Featuring a Glass Viewing Height of 20″

What's Included

  • Tru View Bespoke Fireplace
  • Glass Media
  • Grate
  • Remote Control

Features

  • 5 Year Warranty
  • Fire & Sound – Two (2) quality audio speakers deliver a re crackling sound. The audio is an ON/OFF feature that can be controlled through the WiFi app. from your smartphone with the use of our app. Available on the Google play store and the Apple App Store.
  • WiFi compatible to connect and control the replace from your smartphone with the use of our app. Available on the Google play store and the Apple App Store.
  • Bluetooth Connectivity – Featuring a replace with high quality audio from Bluetooth speakers. Simply pair your phone with the replace and press play on your smartphone.
  • Programmable timer & thermostat allows you to decide the temperature of the room. Set the replace to turn on before you arrive home or have it automatically turn on when the weather is cold.
  • Smart Room Temperature Control – 59°F – 82°F or 15°C – 28°C
  • 1465W 5000 BTU, heats up to 500 Sq. Ft. 
  • 50000 hours lifetime LED light source
  • Approved for Outdoor Installations*
  • Designed with front ow heating and hidden venting so that the unit can be recessed or semi flush mounted
  • A clean reduced trim kit allows for a large viewing area with true life like flames that can not be rivaled.
  • Adjustable flame brightness and speed that can be turned on separately.
  • Adjustable ember bed colors that allow for the possibility of auto mixing thousands of colors.
  • Most quiet and reliable components in the industry
  • Patented thermostatic remote comes included
  • Masonry finish to trim option

Additional Features

  • Available in sizes 45”, 55”, 65”, 75”and 85”
  • Biggest and the Best - 20” Viewing area
  • Double the heat output from 5000 to 10,000, when two units are joined together on 120V
  • TRV 45 comes with 1 heater fan, Max 5000 BTU on 120V
  • The TRV 55, 65, 75 & 85 come with 2 heater fans, Max 5000 BTU on 120V, or 10,000 BTU on 240V
  • Electrical & BTU 120V, 1500W, 12.5 A and 5,000 BTU
  • 240V, 2500W, 10.4 A and 10,000 BTU
  • 2 units together 240V, 20,000 BTU

The Combination Possibilities Are Endless

It is possible to make multiple sizes by simply placing two or three units together of any size. A linear fireplace of 90” can be created by joining two 45” Tru View Bespoke units together. Combine a 55” and 65” Tru View Bespoke for 120”. Combining two units of 75” would be a custom 150” electric fireplace.

A Tru View Bespoke linear fireplace of 185” would consist of two 55” and one 75” unit. Anything can be combined, and the possibilities are endless.

Specifications

Dimensions 46.1" W X 29.3" H X 15" D
Volts 120 V
Amps 12.5 A
Watts 1465 W
BTU 5000
Installation Recessed or Semi-flush; 1 or 2 Sides Open; Both Sides Closed
Heater - High 1465 W
Heater - Low 750 W
No Heater 45.2 WATTS MAX
Lamps - Quantity 150 PCS LED
Lamps - Watts 0.5 W & 0.15 W & 0.06 W
Approx Heating Area 400 SQ FT

Dimensions

Warranty

 
  • Products covered by this limited warranty have been tested and inspected prior to shipment and, subject to the provisions of this warranty, Amantii warrants such products to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of five (5) years from the date of the first purchase of such products, subject to the conditions and limitations mentioned in the User Manual.

Documents & Files

Videos

Frequently Asked Questions

Symmetry Bespoke sound control

How is the sound controlled on the Symmetry Bespoke and is there a volume control? The fireplace crackling sound can be controlled through the remote or Wi-Fi App to turn the sound on or off, however there is no volume control.
The difference between our regular fireplaces models and bespoke models

The main differences between these two products are that the Bespoke offers a greater warranty period of 5 years instead of 2 years, due to upgraded internal components. The Bespoke will come with fire crackling and Bluetooth speakers, along with brighter LED components offering a crisper flame pattern and color options for the media area.
Do electric fireplaces really give off heat?

Electric fireplaces do indeed give off heat. Despite the misconception that they are purely decorative, electric fireplaces are designed to provide warmth and comfort. They utilize advanced heating technology to generate heat through the circulation of warm air. Electric fireplaces typically feature heating elements concealed within the unit, which can be adjusted to different temperature settings to suit your preferences. These heating elements are capable of producing a significant amount of heat, allowing electric fireplaces to effectively warm up small to medium-sized rooms. However, it’s important to note that electric fireplaces are not intended to replace a central heating system but rather to supplement it and create a cozy ambiance.
I need to replace my remote, what remote do I need?

Check out our Remote Control Guide – on page 1 are the new remotes, R63 and R64. On page 2 are all the remotes for the discontinued units. If you require a new remote please check out our Amantii parts store to find yourself a replacement Amantii Parts Store
How much space will my electric fireplace heat?

Amantii electric fireplaces can heat rooms approximately 15′-20′ (400 square feet).
Are electric fireplaces cost-efficient?

Electricity rates vary depending on location, but electric is on average much cheaper than other forms of heating your home. On average electricity rates are $.02/hour without heat and $.07/hour with heat. Electric fireplaces are an excellent option for zone heating. For comparison; gas fireplace manufacturers regularly advertise running costs of $.23/hour.
Is it safe to move the electric fireplace to another location once it is assembled?

Yes, once the fireplace is assembled it is sturdy and is safe to move.
Is electric fireplace cheaper to run than a gas fireplace?

If you do not have an existing gas line, an electric fireplace is probably a the more cost effective option. Also, because gas fireplaces are fueled by gas, they create real flames, while electric fireplaces produce heat with no flame. Generally speaking, a gas fireplace is more expensive to run than an electric fireplace.
Is it possible to purchase your fireplaces without the heating element?

Yes we have Wall Mount/Built In models that have state of the art realistic LED flames and no heat output, however most of Amantii fireplaces have the functionality to operate with the heat on or off.
How do I turn my fireplace on or off?

The majority of Amantii fireplaces come with a remote control. The remote allows you to turn the fireplace on or off, adjust the intensity of flame, and adjust the level of heat (if applicable) that the electric firebox will give off. Most models also have controls located on the unit as well for manual operation.
Does your fireplace need any venting or a chimney?

No, Amantii electric fireplaces are all vent free and therefore there is no need for any chimney, any venting, any gas lines. There is no open flame, and no mess or clean up.
Do you need any permits to install your electric fireplaces?

No permits are required.
Can the Electric Fireplace be installed to replace a wood burning fireplace. We are remodeling and would like to replace the wood burning unit with an Amantii electric fireplace.

Usually the determining factor is the inside height. We make 3 sizes of height which is the most important number. The trim is just like a gas unit: you hope it covers the hole, and if not, you simply make a backing plate
Does the glass front of the electric fireplace get hot?

No – the glass front of the fireplace always remains cool and is perfectly safe.
Is there much maintenance with your electric fireplaces?

The only maintenance required for our electric fireplaces would be to change the standard 40 watt candelabra light bulbs, which have a standard life of 2 years, if one or more burn out. These bulbs can be readily found at home centers.
Are your electric fireplaces safety certified?

Yes, our Amantii fireplaces have the ETL Listed Mark or CSA marks, proof of product compliance (electrical, other safety standards) to North American safety standards.
How do you change between the two flame sets?

Your Amantii fireplace will come with a flame stencil built into the fireplace, already installed. This stencil provides the flame look as shown in the images for the product. The stencil can be removed from the fireplace to alter the shape of the flame to a more “diffused” look. Please refer to the fireplace documentation section to see guides on how to gain access to remove the flame stencil from the fireplace.
I purchased the ZECL-33-3624-BG fireplace and I need a recommendation for a thermostat. Do you sell them or know what kind I need to get?

The remote has a temperature setting and it will do automatic temp of around 70’F with or without the flame on. If you want an external thermostat – a millivolt version is what you need. No power required to it.
Why is there a squeaking noise coming from your fireplace?

The noise is due to the flicker rod coming in contact with the rod end bushing. To rid the noise, this area will need to be re greased.to fix this problem please refer to the repair guide of your fireplace.
Do Amantii Fireplaces have a mirrored background?

The Amantii Electric fireplaces does have a proprietary back coating for the flame presentation glass, however it is not mirror finish.
Are the glasses all slanted in the Remi, Symmetry and Panorama?

All of the front glass is slanted in the Symmetry, Panorama, and Remii equivalents.
Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 42533277191

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4.7 ★★★★★
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Product Reviews
E
Verified Purchase
Eric G
West Palm Beach, US
★★★★★ 5
A great book for anyone interested in US foreign policy, history, or economics
Format: Hardcover
In July of 1944 representatives from forty-four nations gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, NH to establish the rules for the post World War II international monetary system. Although nations from around the globe were at the table, the primary debate was between the United States and Great Britain. The U.S. was determined to advance a policy ensuring the dollar reigned supreme in world trade, thus guaranteeing American dominance. The British were holding out for a monetary system that would not relegate them to a secondary status after the war. Representing the two great nations were two men. For the U.S. it was a little-known economist working as an assistant to the Secretary of Treasury, Harry Dexter White, and representing the British was world-known economist John Maynard Keynes. Benn Steil examines the Bretton Woods conference, and the inter-war years leading up to it, using these two men as a backdrop. Not only is the work well researched, but as a senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, Steil is eminently qualified to make economic judgements. Steil’s thoroughness and expertise combine to make an enjoyable read of what could otherwise be an exceptionally dry topic. The main argument Steil makes is that the dominance of dollar in the post WWII economy was a fait accompli at Bretton Woods. Mr. Steil introduces the reader to the relatively unknown Harry Dexter White, a minor player at the U.S. Treasury commanding great influence. Steil shows the reader that going into Bretton Woods, White and his boss, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, were committed to bringing President Roosevelt’s New Deal to the rest of the world. Part of this plan was to shift power not only from London, but from Wall Street as well, to the U.S. Treasury. White was convinced international banking had played a key role in creating the instability responsible for WWII. A new gold standard tied to the U.S. dollar would ensure stability in White’s view. Ultimately White’s ideas led to the creation of “the three so-called Bretton Woods institutions: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the World Bank” (Steil, The Battle of Bretton Woods, 127). Adding intrigue to economics Steil also shows through declassified F.B.I. documents and recently discovered writings by White, that White was an agent of the Soviet Union. Keynes is often regarded as “the first-ever international celebrity economist” (Steil, The Battle of Bretton Woods, 3). While this may be true, he was no match for the little-known White. White (and Morgenthau) considered the British a threat on the economic stage and made sure their Lend-Lease terms would bankrupt the U.K. by the end of the war and bring them to the bargaining table. As well as being an interesting historical read, and a useful primer on international monetary policy, Steil captures the importance of economic policy in relation to foreign policy. Morgenthau and White realized the power of the U.S. to inflict its will upon other nations was rooted in the power of the dollar. Today as then, U.S. power flows from the economy. Students of modern U.S. foreign policy would be wise to have a basic understanding of U.S. economic policy and how the U.S. economy interacts in the global system.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2020
E
Verified Purchase
Etienne RP
Dallas, US
★★★★★ 5
Hosting Diplomatic Conferences 101: The Case of Bretton Woods
Format: Paperback
Bretton Woods was the most important international gathering since the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. I read this book looking for clues on how to host international conferences: how to accommodate delegates, maintain protocol, overcome obstacles, build consensus, and reach a satisfying outcome. I was disappointed on that count. The Battle of Bretton Woods doesn’t focus on the Bretton Woods conference per se. It is a work of intellectual history built around the two characters of John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White. It describes the way these two Treasury officials negotiated the main financial issues facing the United States and the United Kingdom during World War II and immediately after: the Lend-Lease Act of 1941 granting the British access to war finance and equipment; the blueprints for a postwar monetary order that began circulating in 1942 and ultimately culminated in the adoption of the Articles of Agreement of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development at Bretton Woods; the signing of the $4.4 billion Anglo-American Financial Agreement in December 1945; and the inaugural meeting of the IMF board of governors in Savannah, Georgia, on March 8, 1946. It mixes these elements of diplomatic history with personal aspects of the lives of the two main characters: Keynes’s inflated ego and lack of diplomatic acumen that resulted in missed opportunities for Great Britain; and White’s dual personality as the braintrust of the US Treasury and as a mole operating clandestinely for the Soviets. To be sure, there are some useful indications on the Bretton Woods conference itself. It took place in the Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire, a luxury resort with striking views of the White Mountains. The organization itself was a mess: “everything is in a state of glorious confusion,” commented British economist Lionel Robbins, who added: “with all their virtues as technicians—and these are very great—the Americans are not good organizers of international conferences.” The conference took place in war time, and army bus and personnel brought the delegates in and out. Delegates were thrown out of the hotel on July 23 for fear they would reopen the discussion and have a closer look at the hastily agreed texts. The location itself owed a lot to domestic politics. US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau wanted to court a local politician for future support of the agreement in the Senate, remembering the disastrous defeat of Wilson’s League of Nations in Congress after World War I. The press was also in attendance, and Bretton Woods became one of the first international conferences to be covered live by the media. Most of the delegates came from Ministries of Finance or central banks, and true diplomats—the ones hailing from Ministries of Foreign Affairs—were a rare occurrence. The US Treasury Department had willingly kept the State Department out of the loop, and considered the only senior diplomat present, Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson, as “one of them”. The conference was only the tip of the iceberg: everything was set in advance, during the two years when plans were circulated and drafts were discussed. The invitations were sent to forty-four nations, but the United States ran the show from start to finish, and even British delegates were relegated to a secondary role. Keynes, who had termed the Reconstruction Bank scheme imagined by White “the work of a lunatic,…some sort of bad joke,” was named chairman of the commission that drafted the Bank’s Articles of Agreement, while White himself dealt with the much more significant IMF. As for other nations, their input was limited to discussing the national quotas that would measure their relative power and influence at the boards of the two institutions or, in the case of the Cubans, to “providing the cigars”. White’s goal was to “channel the energy, aims, ambitions, and vanities of the mass of delegates into meaningless debate.” As an American organizer wily remarked, “there should be just one general rule: that anybody can talk as long as he pleases, provided he doesn’t say anything.” To make things even safer, the session secretaries were all Americans, appointed by White, and it was they who wrote the official minutes of the committees. Some important remarks made during sessions disappeared from the draft minutes, while crucial provisions were introduced surreptitiously in the final text versions. As an example, White’s technicians strategically replaced “gold” with “gold and dollars” in the paper describing the foundations of the postwar monetary order, a crucial modification that Keynes discovered only after his departure from Bretton Woods. The result was, in Keynes’s words, “the most monstrous monkey-house assembled for years.” The distinguished Cambridge don liked that expression, and indeed often referred to non-Anglo-saxons as monkeys, with a special mention to the French which he utterly despised. But the monkey-king in this diplomatic jungle was certainly Keynes himself. Long before Paul Krugman and Thomas Piketty, Keynes was the first-ever international celebrity economist. He was surrounded by an aura of awe and admiration, and the printed media craved for his every declarations. In Benn Steil’s rendering, he had “an effortless facility with words that might have made him a master diplomat, had he actually been more concerned with convincing opponents than with cornering them logically and humiliating them.” “The man is a menace for international relations,” remarked fellow British economist James Meade, who nonetheless revered him. He would make aggressive jokes on lawyers in front of American lawyers, show his contempt for other delegates by displaying his immense intellectual superiority, and try to steal the show by pretending the outcomes of negotiations were all due to his influence while in fact they ran counter to his prescriptions. His last speech in Savannah, where he metaphorically summoned spirits and fairies to bestow the newborn institutions with their gifts, was taken as a personal attack by the American delegate: “I do mind being called a fairy,” he muttered to his aide. If a statesman is to be judged by his capacity to serve the national interest, Keynes failed miserably in his attempt at statesmanship. This is not to say that he didn’t have Britain’s interest in mind. His visionary monetary schemes notwithstanding, he had ultimately come to the United States with the mission of conserving what he could of bankrupt Britain’s historic imperial prerogatives. As Schumpeter wrote, “Keynes’s advice was in the first instance always English advice, born of English problems.” Keynes was thoroughly British, and it was the British problems of his day that drove his theorizing: problems of deflation and depression, paying for war and surviving the perilous transition to peace. He had spent his career thinking about monetary issues as a way to preserve his country’s clout in the world. In particular, the shift of financial power from London to New York was a matter of constant concern for him. But he lacked the basic insight that the Americans did not share British national interests, and that they could even be rival powers on the international scene. Throughout the war, Keynes continuously overestimated American sympathies with Britain and underestimated the importance of public and congressional resistance to US aid or involvement. He thought of Bretton Woods as a battle of ideas, counting on his immense intellectual superiority to carry the day, whereas it was first and foremost a battle of power and influence, with the United States as the clear winner. Indeed, British and American interests were not identical, however much both peoples were dedicated to destroying Nazism. Henry White had a clear goal in Bretton Woods: to entrench the dollar as the world’s currency, and to make it “as good as gold”. He used the leverage provided by the Lend-Lease agreement and Britain’s quasi-bankrupt situation in order to put a permanent end to the pound sterling’s international role. This required dismantling the structural supports of the British empire. In particular, Americans sought to put an end to “imperial preference”, by which Britain secured privileged trade access to the markets of its colonies and dominions. There was no room in the new order for the remnants of British imperial glory: the postwar world needed to be grounded in nondiscriminatory multilateral trade and full monetary convertibility. The Americans never deviated from their hard-line geopolitical terms. Many held no particular sympathy for the British, who had “shamefully walked away from their Great War debt obligations,” and who were trying to extend their Empire’s lease of life by credit. At Bretton Woods, we see American power in full swing, and in particular the role of the US Treasury as the economic arm of American foreign policy. Contrary to the myth, Bretton Woods did not provide the economic foundation for postwar prosperity and monetary stability. And it was not the cooperative, disinterested, forward-looking endeavor that people often have in mind when they stress the need for a new Bretton Woods. The Bretton Woods system didn’t work the way it was supposed to. It was effective for only a brief period, and then not for the reason its authors had envisaged. It was not until 1961, fifteen years after the IMF was inaugurated, that the first nine European countries formally adopted the required provisions that their currencies be convertible into dollars. Even then, Bretton Woods was an ineffective and crisis-prone monetary system. It began experiencing potentially fatal difficulties as early as the late 1950s, and was only kept alive by a series of political fixes that made little long-term, macroeconomic sense. It could never have survived the globalization of finance and the removal of capital controls that began to take place in the 1970s. Indeed, it can be argued that the system was doomed the moment that it came into existence, and that the Bretton Woods agreements contained fatal flaws that could only lead to the abandon of gold convertibility. Not only was Bretton Woods a crisis-prone, unstable system: it was also a bad deal for Great Britain and, one could argue, for the United States and for the world as well. What Britain actually needed in 1944-45 was short-term financing at reasonable cost with few geopolitical strings attached, and possibly a lower exchange rate. There was evident hubris in the attempt to design a global monetary system, to be managed by an international body, at a time when the outcome of the war was not yet clear. Keynes and White’s ambition was to create “a New Deal for a new world,” but they lacked the political legitimacy and also the effective means to achieve such a grand plan. Another course of action was possible for the United Kingdom, one suggested by a British Treasury official after the facts: postpone the “Grand Design” negotiations, avoid irreversible decisions, try to buy time until you see how the new postwar world develops, and borrow your way out of the crisis by getting a commercial loan from Wall Street. Who at Bretton Woods would have thought that the British empire would unravel, the United States and the Soviet Union turn into arch-enemies, and the world divide into hostile camps just two years after the conference? There was no necessity to conclude Bretton Woods in a haste. Waiting for the San Francisco conference to address the issue of money and finance jointly with the creation of the United Nations would have made the postwar institutional framework more coherent. The world would have avoided the dichotomy between the Bretton Woods institutions in Washington and the United Nations in New York, in which both seem to live on completely different planes. So are there practical lessons from Bretton Woods for statesmen and diplomats hosting international meetings, such as the Paris Conference on Climate Change that will take place in end-November and December 2015? First, as the previous attempt to tackle climate change at Copenhagen taught us, the summit itself is not the place where comprehensive negotiations should take place. Most items on the agenda should be solved beforehand, in preparatory meetings among experts or in a pre-summit rehearsal such as the UN General Assembly in New York. Second, organizers should make sure they keep a bone for the leaders and national delegates to chew, one that is easy enough to grasp and with a clear payoff in terms of national interest, such as the quota issue at Bretton Woods. Managing expectations and egos will always be a tricky issue, but one that diplomats are best equipped to handle. How to deal with the media is also a key issue, particularly in our age of instant communication and world broadcasting. Lastly, a modicum of modesty should be in order: the world is not going to be saved by international conferences, however successful they turn out to be. For Britain in 1944 and for the planet as a whole in 2015, buying time is always a sensible option.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2015
A
Verified Purchase
active reader
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 3
History worth reading
Format: Kindle
Presents the history of the Bretton Woods conference, creation of the World Bank and the IMF and global and US politics surrounding the events. Discussion of Harry Dexter White, key US representative at Bretton Woods focuses on claims he was a Soviet spy beginning in the late 1930s and continuing through the conference and into the late 1940s; spends more time than necessary on this even though it is not clear how this affected the outcome of the conference. Most of the discussion of Keynes is on his reputation rather than his economics. Not the definitive history of Bretton Woods.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2013
J
Verified Purchase
John Hemphill
Port Orchard, US
★★★★★ 4
Foes at the Top Table
Format: Kindle
Those of us who studied economics in the 60s grew up on Keynes. This book provides a fascinating picture of the great man in action. And an equally fascinating picture of the Lend Lease negotiations and then the US hard line at Bretton Woods. Behind this hard line was Harry Woods, of Lithuanian emigre stock, who clawed his way by hard work and intelligence to negotiating prominence in the US Treasury. And who was a Soviet agent of influence. Well written, lucid, and remarkably interesting.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2013
M
Verified Purchase
Manuel Hinds
Phoenix, US
★★★★★ 5
A distant mirror of our current problems
Format: Hardcover
The title of this excellent book accurately describes its contents:it is about a battle fought to define a new world order, that which was emerging from the ashes of World War II. The book also conveys the messy complexity of such a historical process--how individual characters interpreted the events around them, realized that they were giving shape to a radically new future, tried to take advantage of them to advance their own personal and national interests, and succeeded in accordance with their intelligence, the cunning of their argumentation, and, above all, the shifts in the real power that supported them. Masterly, Benn Steil makes the reader feel how Keynes and White gradually reached an unspoken and unrecognized agreement regarding the shape that the new world would have, and then fought to gain advantage in that new world--Keynes trying to keep the British Empire paramount in the world order, now based not on the Royal Navy but on Britain's alliance with the United States, the emerging superpower, and White asserting the unimpeded power of the United States. Focusing on one crucial aspect of the new order, money, Steil is able to reenact the human drama of the transfer of world power from Britain to the United States in all orders of life. It is an excellent history book. The book, however, goes beyond history as the narration and understanding of past events. When reading it, there is an eerie feeling that you are reading about current events. The process that led to Bretton Woods started thirty years before, with World War I and the end of the classical gold standard. When the war ended, a new monetary system was created, which was called the gold exchange standard. It resembled but emasculated the power of the old gold standard to keep monetary order in the world at large. This new system gave central banks the power to create money independently of the international consequences of doing it. With time, central banks abused this power, created a boom in the 1920s and then a depression in the 1930s. Bretton Woods was convened to reintroduce order in the monetary world. Like the gold standard of old, the new system created there was tied to gold in an effort to ensure stability. Yet, it also allowed central banks freedom to create money under certain circumstances. As it happened in the 1920s and 1930s, central banks abused their power, blew up the international system (in this case the Bretton Woods system) and then led the world into a series of booms and busts that has not ended as yet. A new monetary order will be needed to avoid worldwide inflation and protracted recessions. To understand the issues that will be crucial to give shape to this new monetary order it will be necessary to revisit the making of Bretton Woods in detail. There is no better way to understand these issues that Ben Steil's The Battle of Bretton Woods. Thus, in addition to being an excellent history book, it is also an excellent book about current events. Full disclosure: I wrote a previous book with Benn Steil: Money, Markets and Sovereignty (Yale University Press, 2009).
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2013

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