This book investigates the efficacy and long-term consequences of the monetarist economic policies implemented by Margaret Thatcher during her tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. William Keegan, a veteran economic journalist, utilizes his extensive access to government officials and his deep understanding of macroeconomic theory to critique the shift toward market-oriented reforms. He argues that the experiment prioritized inflation control at the expense of industrial stability and social cohesion, presenting a detailed analysis of the transition from Keynesian consensus to radical monetarism.

Experts frequently cite this work as a critical contemporary account of the Thatcher era, noting its value as a primary source for understanding the economic debates of the early 1980s. Readers often observe that the prose is accessible to those with an interest in political economy while maintaining a high level of analytical rigor.