The Global Financial Crisis started in the USA in 2008. The economy shifts and cycles, and occasionally falls into depressions. Making sense of these "recurring disturbances" is the aim of the classic bestseller "Financial Crises and Periods of Industrial and Commercial Depression", originally published in 1902, and written by Theodore Burton. In this book, Burton tries to clarify the confusion surrounding economic phenomena such as panics, crises, and depressions. He attempts to identify their causes and effects and looks at whether depressions are unavoidable features of a transition period in business and industry. He also examines the periodicity of crises and depressions and if they regularly recur or are the result of chance. THEODORE E. BURTON (1851-1929) represented Ohio in the U.S. Congress for forty-one years. He served on the Inland Waterways Commission, the National Waterways Commission, and the National Monetary Commission.