The Mises Institute edition features a new introduction by historian Paul
Johnson.

Since it first appeared in 1963, it has been the definitive treatment of the
causes of the depression. The book remains canonical today because the
debate is still very alive.

Rothbard opens with a theoretical treatment of business cycle theory,
showing how an expansive monetary policy generates imbalances between
investment and consumption. He proceeds to examine the Fed's policies of the
1920s, demonstrating that it was quite inflationary even if the effects did
not show up in the price of goods and services. He showed that the stock
market correction was merely one symptom of the investment boom that led
inevitably to a bust.

The Great Depression was not a crisis for capitalism but merely an example
of the downturn part of the business cycle, which in turn was generated by
government intervention in the economy. Had the book appeared in the 1940s,
it might have spared the world much grief. Even so, its appearance in 1963
meant that free-market advocates had their first full-scale treatment of
this crucial subject. The damage to the intellectual world inflicted by
Keynesian- and socialist-style treatments would be limited from that day
forward.