In this groundbreaking and thought-provoking publication, Yanis Varoufakis shatters the conventional wisdom that financialization, inept regulatory oversight, avarice, and globalization were the primary drivers of the global economic downturn. Conversely, these factors are merely manifestations of a far more profound underlying issue that can be traced back to the cataclysmic Great Crash of 1929, with its reverberations extending into the 1970s: the inception of the 'Global Minotaur'. Just as the ancient Athenians maintained a steady flow of tributes to the Cretan monster, so too did the rest of the world funnel enormous amounts of capital to America and Wall Street, thereby transforming the Global Minotaur into the engine that propelled the global economy from the early 1980s to 2008. The present economic turmoil in Europe, the contentious debates over austerity versus fiscal stimulus in the US, and the tensions between China's authorities and the Obama administration regarding exchange rates are all symptomatic of the weakening Minotaur; of a global system that is now as precarious as it is unbalanced. Beyond this, Varoufakis presents the available options for reintroducing a measure of reason into the highly irrational global economic order. This authoritative account provides a comprehensive examination of the socio-economic events and hidden histories that have shaped the world as it exists today.