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Review
I've read lots of books about economics this last year. this is one of the very best... Superb --Standard
A fluent and indirect paean to Keynesian economics... this resonates with the contemporary turmoil in global financial markets --Financial Times
Ahamed unravels the story of the most terrible financial collapse in history from the perspective of the four men who were largely responsible: the leading central bankers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany --Mail on sunday
The strength of this book is in humanising the world's descent into economic chaos --Robert Peston - The Sunday Times
[a] very readable portrait of the bankers who allowed the Great Depression to happen --Telegraph
'magisterial' -- Observer
'superlative' -- New York Times
'a great read' -- George Soros
'brilliant and timely' -- Guardian
`Highly readable ... [Ahamed] cannot have foreseen how timely his book would be' --Niall Ferguson
A fluent and indirect paean to Keynesian economics... this resonates with the contemporary turmoil in global financial markets --Financial Times
Ahamed unravels the story of the most terrible financial collapse in history from the perspective of the four men who were largely responsible: the leading central bankers in the United States, Britain, France and Germany --Mail on sunday
The strength of this book is in humanising the world's descent into economic chaos --Robert Peston - The Sunday Times
[a] very readable portrait of the bankers who allowed the Great Depression to happen --Telegraph
'magisterial' -- Observer
'superlative' -- New York Times
'a great read' -- George Soros
'brilliant and timely' -- Guardian
`Highly readable ... [Ahamed] cannot have foreseen how timely his book would be' --Niall Ferguson
Book Description
Samuel Johnson shortlisted & FT/Goldman Sachs WINNER: a vivid, dramatic account of the four men whose personal and professional actions led to the world economic collapse of the late 1920s.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Some seem to think that the recent devastating, greed-induced, brainless financial cock-up at an astronomical cost to the taxpayer, is unlikely to reoccur. They are so, so wrong. During the past century alone, there have been a number of financial disgraces that have impacted on society at large, the hitherto most serious being The Wall Street Crash of 1929, and the subsequent Great Depression of the 1930's. We didn't learn in the medium or long-term from any of these events, and will not do so in the future, as our actions are governed always an equal mixture of ambition, greed, and asininity. There will be another global financial melt down in the future, guaranteed for certain, so lets hope the tax-payers have very deep pockets and short memories because the perpetrators of massive monetary bankruptcies are rarely penalised with loss of liberty or bank balances.
So to "Lords Of Finance", it is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a sequence of events beyond any one person's or governments control. In fact, as Liaquat Ahamed reveals, it was the decisions taken by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of the economic meltdown, that set the scene for the terrible downward spiral leading to unruly markets and the manifestations of the very worse of human behaviour. All seems a bit familiar doesn't it?
In "Lords Of Finance", we meet the neurotic and enigmatic Montague Norman of the Bank of England, the xenophobic and suspicious Emile Moreau of the Banque de France, the arrogant yet brilliant Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, and Benjamin Strong of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The steps that they took to reconstruct the the world of international finance after the First World War, namely the return to the gold standard, seemed to work at first but fairly soon cracks appeared beneath the veneer of boom prosperity, and the world economy began to plummet into that period known as the Great Depression and the rest, as they say, is history.
The book was awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for history and has received a welter of acclaim for providing a compelling and convincing narrative of bungling, tortured bankers, vainly trying to reconcile conflicting personal, national and global ambitions and duties. On September 2, 2010, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke was asked by the Financial Crisis Inquiry what books or academic papers he would recommend to understand the financial crisis of 2007-2010. The only book that Bernanke recommended was"Lords Of Finance".
A superb, highly engrossing, easy to follow, thought provoking book, that alas will have little or no effect in staving off another bout of financial madness, and another, and another........
.
So to "Lords Of Finance", it is commonly believed that the Great Depression that began in 1929 resulted from a sequence of events beyond any one person's or governments control. In fact, as Liaquat Ahamed reveals, it was the decisions taken by a small number of central bankers that were the primary cause of the economic meltdown, that set the scene for the terrible downward spiral leading to unruly markets and the manifestations of the very worse of human behaviour. All seems a bit familiar doesn't it?
In "Lords Of Finance", we meet the neurotic and enigmatic Montague Norman of the Bank of England, the xenophobic and suspicious Emile Moreau of the Banque de France, the arrogant yet brilliant Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, and Benjamin Strong of The Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The steps that they took to reconstruct the the world of international finance after the First World War, namely the return to the gold standard, seemed to work at first but fairly soon cracks appeared beneath the veneer of boom prosperity, and the world economy began to plummet into that period known as the Great Depression and the rest, as they say, is history.
The book was awarded the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for history and has received a welter of acclaim for providing a compelling and convincing narrative of bungling, tortured bankers, vainly trying to reconcile conflicting personal, national and global ambitions and duties. On September 2, 2010, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke was asked by the Financial Crisis Inquiry what books or academic papers he would recommend to understand the financial crisis of 2007-2010. The only book that Bernanke recommended was"Lords Of Finance".
A superb, highly engrossing, easy to follow, thought provoking book, that alas will have little or no effect in staving off another bout of financial madness, and another, and another........
.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a compelling account of Financial affairs between the wars. The action centers around the chief central bankers of the periods's big four nations: the US, Great Britain, Germany and France. The author has a rare sympathy for the different points of view of the various nations, classes and individual characters. Even that fave target the British upper class is treated fairly, the author notes how bad wwI was for them with casualities among junior officers 3 times higher than for enlisted men. Possibly the French are the one exception, Im slightly biased against them myself so it would be hard to tell.
If there's one flaw its that private bankers seem to be let off rather lightly. I dont for one second doubt the author is writing with total sincertity. He doesnt push the "sound money" view, for example he shows clearly how moderate inflation is good for industry and employment with deflation always harmful to all but the rich. But while the central bankers are treated with great affection, it seems the author has unconciously assigned them a greater share of responsibility for the Great Depression than is the case. In Tradegy and Hope by Carrol Quidgley central bankers were shown to be allmost the creatures of private bankers. Quidgley was a top line accademic with direct access to the top people and records in finance and politics - he advised several presidents for example. So few are more qualified to reveal the inner story than Quidgley, however I must warn that in contrast to the pleasure from reading this book, working through Quidgley's is a chore.In a way its good that this book shows private bankers in a positive light, as the current fashion for banker bashing seems unhelpfull. The real primary cause of the recent crisis was free market ideology which is even now re-asserting itself while bankers are being scape goated.
The book shows how in the late 20S & early 30s Franch became a financial super power due largely to its high current account surplus allowing it to build a massive hoard of gold, while Germany and Great Britain ran down their reserves and were greatly weakened. France also had the biggest standing army in the world, but to no avail once events turned against. The paralells with our current situation arnt too close as the surplus nations of today have better reason than did France or the US in the 20s, but there is still maybe a lesson to be learned.
If there's one flaw its that private bankers seem to be let off rather lightly. I dont for one second doubt the author is writing with total sincertity. He doesnt push the "sound money" view, for example he shows clearly how moderate inflation is good for industry and employment with deflation always harmful to all but the rich. But while the central bankers are treated with great affection, it seems the author has unconciously assigned them a greater share of responsibility for the Great Depression than is the case. In Tradegy and Hope by Carrol Quidgley central bankers were shown to be allmost the creatures of private bankers. Quidgley was a top line accademic with direct access to the top people and records in finance and politics - he advised several presidents for example. So few are more qualified to reveal the inner story than Quidgley, however I must warn that in contrast to the pleasure from reading this book, working through Quidgley's is a chore.In a way its good that this book shows private bankers in a positive light, as the current fashion for banker bashing seems unhelpfull. The real primary cause of the recent crisis was free market ideology which is even now re-asserting itself while bankers are being scape goated.
The book shows how in the late 20S & early 30s Franch became a financial super power due largely to its high current account surplus allowing it to build a massive hoard of gold, while Germany and Great Britain ran down their reserves and were greatly weakened. France also had the biggest standing army in the world, but to no avail once events turned against. The paralells with our current situation arnt too close as the surplus nations of today have better reason than did France or the US in the 20s, but there is still maybe a lesson to be learned.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book for my dad at Christmas, he has always been into economics so I wondered whether it would be wise to buy him a book that I hadn't read and so wasn't sure first hand how good/accurate it was.
I went ahead on other reviews left by readers and it was a success! My dad loved it. I would recommend the book to anyone.
I went ahead on other reviews left by readers and it was a success! My dad loved it. I would recommend the book to anyone.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A book to treasure
Beautifully written and gripping and a readable education on finance, it is one of the few books I have ever read twice.
Published 25 days ago by Ed Crutchley
Fascinating history - completely relevant for today
Liaquat Ahamed (a NY money manager) won the FT Business Book of the Year Award 2009 with this - his first book - and deservedly so. Read more
Published 4 months ago by George Norris
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Very educational and very interesting book, especially in the context of the current crisis in the economy. I would highly recommend it
Published 4 months ago by Anna
Great book to see how central banking doesn't save the world
I loved this book for its stylish, nearly gossipy presentation about the men behind the scenes: central bankers. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Samantha Buker
The WWI and WWII tragedies in a new perspective
It is History as it ought to be written more often. I learnt very much from it. It must be read and especially by them who will (try to) command the World for tomorrow!
Published 11 months ago by Hans Berg
Gold - The Lord
A readable and likable account of the rise, reign and fall of the heads of the central banks of France, the US, Britain and Germany in and around WWI to after the worst of the... Read more
Published 12 months ago by demola
The Bankers who Broke the World
I found this a very well written and easy to follow book. It doesn't shy away from detailed economic discussions, but there is at least some attempt to explain basic concepts to a... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. S. A. Brown
New Deal or No New Deal?
Liaquat gives an object lesson in how to make economic history accessible to the layman, and his studies of the main protagonists are both informative and entertaining. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Chuck E
Well written and thrilling
The book is vey well written but lacks a bit of economic and historic precision. But of course the aim of this book is to tell the story like a novel and not like a history or... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Alvaro NADAL BELDA
A different angle on THE economic event of the 20th century
Mr Ahamed takes a different route to studying the economic catastrophe of the GD in Europe and the US. Read more
Published 20 months ago by S P Surpless
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