Financial magicians with golden hands or greedy financial sharks speculating in the shadows and destabilizing entire economies? The prejudices and ignorance surrounding the enigmatic world of hedge funds are significant and have contributed to the formation of myths. Did hedge funds cause or exacerbate the collapse of the British pound in 1993, the Asian crisis in 1998, the third oil crisis, and the financial crisis in 2008? Bernd Berg analyzes the financial crises, detailing how hedge funds operate and how their trading strategies have influenced the financial crises of recent decades. The author examines hedge fund transactions through the lens of the Asian crisis and the third oil crisis, and presents possibilities for a new global financial architecture that includes the previously opaque asset class of hedge funds.