A New York Times Bestseller
"A fascinating account of the effort to save the world from another
[Great Depression]. . . . Humanity should be grateful."--Financial
Times
In 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.
