Investigates the evolution and proliferation of central banks and the profession of central banking during the past century.

1. A beginner's guide to central banking; 2. Very boring guys?; 3. Wind in the willows: the small world of central banking c.1900; 4. Something for everyone: new central banks, 1900-39; 5. A series of disasters: central banking, 1914-39; 6. The mysteries of central bank cooperation; 7. The first central banking revolution; 8. No time for cosmic thinkers: central banking in the 'Keynesian' era; 9. Rekindling central bank cooperation in the Bretton Woods era; 10. The goose that lays the golden egg: central banking in developing countries; 11. The horse of inflation; 12. The second central banking revolution: independence and accountability; 13. Reputations at stake: financial deregulation and instability; 14. Inflation targeting: the Holy Grail?; 15. The long march to European monetary integration; 16. A world with half a million central bankers.

John Singleton is Reader in Economic History at Victoria University of Wellington. His previous publications include Innovation and Independence: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, 1973-2002 (2006).