He hardly seemed cut out to be a workingman's revolutionary, a graduate of England's exclusive Eton prep school, a collector of modern art and a graduate of Cambridge University, nonetheless he transformed the dismal science into a revolutionary engine of social program. Before Keynes economists were gloomy naysayer's. "Nothing can be done" "Don't interfere" "It will never work", but Keynes was an optimist. "Of course we can lick unemployment!" The "economic problem is not, if we look into the future - the permanent problem of the human race" he wrote. Keynes took a totally new view to economics, he was one of the first economist's to argue convincingly that governments should take measures to counter a depression. His ideas helped shift emphasis away from laissez-faire. The economic theory that maintains that government should not interfere in economic affairs. Keynes was born in Cambridge and later served in the British treasury from 1915 to 1919. It was from this date that Keynes became internationally prominent. He wrote "The Economic Consequences of the Peace". This book attacked the reparation which the Allies demanded from the defeated Central Powers after World War 1 and predicted the breakdown of the Versailles peace settlement. During the 1920's when England had serious economic difficulties Keynes wrote a series of books and essay's which attack the economic polices of the government and laid the basis for his great book of 1936. "The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money". This book marked a completely new departure in economics. He explained how recessions happen, and how government's can act to avoid them. Some of Keynes other work's include "A Tract on Monetary Reform (1923), The End of Laissry Faine (1926) and A Treatise on Money (1930). In these works Keynes explained many of his idea's of which many contributed to the development and growth of Europe in the second half of this century.