This book is concerned with the unprecedented involvement of the French state in the industrial sector of the country's economy during the First World War. That war was a great forcing-house for change, and one of the traditional relationships of French society which was radically altered during this period was that of the state to private industry. Professor Godfey's study is unique as far as France is concerned: it is the only full study of the workings of the French war economy from 1914 to 1918 and on the politics of businessmen.

John F. Godfrey was educated at Trinity College, University of Toronto, Balliol College and St. Antony's College, Oxford, from where he received his PhD in 1975. In 1977 he was appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of King's College, Halifax, before becoming editor of The Financial Post.