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Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World
 
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Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World [Paperback]

Liaquat Ahamed
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World + Too Big to Fail: Inside the Battle to Save Wall Street + The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
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Product details

  • Paperback: 576 pages
  • Publisher: Windmill Books (7 Jan 2010)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 009949308X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099493082
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 7,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
    #8 in  Books > History > Social & Economic History
    #5 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Biographies & Histories > Business & Economic History
    #3 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Biographies & Histories > Finance and Stock Market History

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Product Description

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

Book Description

Samuel Johnson & FT/Goldman Sachs Shortisted: 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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Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World
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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Four Horsemen (not), 2 Feb 2010
By Mr. M. Edwards (Birmingham, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World (Paperback)
Excellent. I covered this period at uni, but the author furnishes a lot of mundane detail that really brings it to life. Also there is a lot of good explanation for non-economists.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written, 1 Feb 2010
By Feyd (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World (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.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A FANTASTIC FIRST BOOK, 30 Jun 2010
By H. L. Mason "relyonme" (Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers who Broke the World (Paperback)
It's going to be one helluva job to follow up on this in style. This is an extremely well written and researched study of the World's top four central bankers at a moment in history so painfully similar to what we are experiencing now.
Never have I read a description of the elusive Montague Norman (the B o E Chairman) in such vivid terms as here, where all comes to life in what has so often been treated in a dry and dusty way. The same can be said of Dr. Schacht of Germany, although France figures somewhat less in the overall narrative for obvious reasons. Benjamin Strong of the U.S. Fed. completes the distinguished quartet, who through the skillful hand of Mr. Ahamed verily breathes life into this fascinating narrative.
There is much to be learned as well as enjoyed in this splendid book, and I can only hope that Mr. Ahamed's next effort comes at least somewhat close to his achievement here.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars `More than anything else, therefore, the Great Depression was caused by a failure of intellectual will,..
.. a lack of understanding about how the economy operated.'

Looking back at the Great Depression of the 1930s and its consequences, it's easy to believe that the... Read more
Published 15 days ago by J. Cameron-Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars serious sure but enjoyable too
"popular" history books have a difficult balance to strike - they should be serious enough to describe accurately the period / issues but readable enough to carry the reader and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by paul

5.0 out of 5 stars Lords of Finance
On the face of it, a book about central banks and the world financial order between the two world wars would not make the most rivetting reading, but Liaquat Ahamed has produced a... Read more
Published 6 months ago by MCT

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