Chapters 1 and 2 of Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation provide one popular theory as to why it collapsed around World War 1, from a cultural anthropology perspective.
Liaquat Ahamed's _Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke The World_ provides another congruent account, from a more detailed historical/economic perspective, as to why gold was abandoned.
http://uncharted.org/frownland/books/Polanyi/POLANYI%20KARL%...
Liaquat Ahamed's _Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke The World_ provides another congruent account, from a more detailed historical/economic perspective, as to why gold was abandoned.
http://www.amazon.com/Lords-Finance-Bankers-Broke-World/dp/0...