Maynard Keynes was a remarkable man. His teaching and writings dominated economic thinking during the middle of the 20th century throughout the world, and put him in the same class as Adam Smith or Karl Marx as a thinker whose theories influenced academic opinion and government action on a global scale. The author is a first cousin of the great man and inherited family records stretching over two centuries. These include diaries, letters and books. From this material he has been able to make a detailed study of Keynes?s ancestry.