The Courage to Act, Ben S. Bernanke
The Courage to Act, Ben S. Bernanke
6 Rating(s)
List: $46.99 | Sale: $31.02
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The Courage to Act
A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath

Bestseller

Author: Ben S. Bernanke

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Unabridged: 22 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/05/2015


Synopsis

A New York Times Bestseller“A fascinating account of the effort to save the world from another [Great Depression]. . . . Humanity should be grateful.”—Financial TimesIn 2006, Ben S. Bernanke was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve, the unexpected apex of a personal journey from small-town South Carolina to prestigious academic appointments and finally public service in Washington’s halls of power.There would be no time to celebrate.The bursting of a housing bubble in 2007 exposed the hidden vulnerabilities of the global financial system, bringing it to the brink of meltdown. From the implosion of the investment bank Bear Stearns to the unprecedented bailout of insurance giant AIG, efforts to arrest the financial contagion consumed Bernanke and his team at the Fed. Around the clock, they fought the crisis with every tool at their disposal to keep the United States and world economies afloat.Working with two U.S. presidents, and under fire from a fractious Congress and a public incensed by behavior on Wall Street, the Fed—alongside colleagues in the Treasury Department—successfully stabilized a teetering financial system. With creativity and decisiveness, they prevented an economic collapse of unimaginable scale and went on to craft the unorthodox programs that would help revive the U.S. economy and become the model for other countries.Rich with detail of the decision-making process in Washington and indelible portraits of the major players, The Courage to Act recounts and explains the worst financial crisis and economic slump in America since the Great Depression, providing an insider’s account of the policy response.

About Ben S. Bernanke

Ben S. Bernanke served as chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014. He was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2009. Prior to his career in public service, he was a professor of economics at Princeton University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Athan on November 11, 2016

So the central banker who defined this recent era of QE finally gets around to writing about the crisis. Paulson’s book is gathering dust on my shelf. Geithner’s I gave a miss. Bernanke’s I had to read. I wanted to read his view on how the crisis came about. We are not lacking for theories of how we......more

Goodreads review by Aloha on January 04, 2016

This is an in-depth look at the Great Recession of the early 2000's, and how the Feds and financial institutions averted or avoided economic disaster. Yes, it could have been a whole lot worse. Since Bernanke has a professor's background, this book is more insightful than Timothy Geithner's Stress T......more

Goodreads review by Alok on September 11, 2022

The Courage to Act by Ben Bernanke - Book Review I've had a unique experience reading this book: Despite it being 770+ pages long, I kept at it (After "Capital"). For some unknown reason, there was a magnetism about the honesty and narrative of this book that kept going. As a finance enthusiast, I was/......more

Goodreads review by Jean on October 18, 2015

I enjoyed getting the inside view point and information about the recent financial crisis. Bernanke describes the struggle of policy makers at the Federal Reserve and Department of Treasury. Bernanke shows what it was like to develop a plan while the data is uncertain and the political environment i......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on May 15, 2020

An interesting dive into the mind of the head of the most powerful central bank in the world during the financial crisis. The level of detail and insight in his account are impressive and rewarding for anyone who has an interest in economics (at a base level this could almost be taught as a class).......more