Courage to Act
A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath
2 June 2017
Description
Ben S. Bernanke’s rise to chair of the Federal Reserve, the massive financial crisis, and the Fed’s bold and effective response.
In 2006, Ben S. Bernanke was appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve, capping a meteoric trajectory from a rural South Carolina childhood to professorships at Stanford and Princeton, to public service in Washington’s halls of power. There would be no time to celebrate, however—the burst of the housing bubble in 2007 set off a domino effect that would bring the global financial system to the brink of meltdown.
In The Courage to Act, Ben Bernanke pulls back the curtain on the tireless and ultimately successful efforts to prevent a mass economic failure. Working with two US presidents and two Treasury secretaries, Bernanke and his colleagues used every Fed capability, no matter how arcane, to keep the US economy afloat. From his arrival in Washington in 2002 and his experiences before the crisis, to the intense days and weeks of the crisis itself, and through the Great Recession that followed, Bernanke gives readers an unequalled perspective on the American economy.
This narrative will reveal for the first time how the creativity and decisiveness of a few key leaders prevented an economic collapse of unimaginable scale. Bernanke explains the inspiration behind the book’s title, saying, “When the economic well-being of their nation demanded a strong and creative response, my colleagues at the Federal Reserve, policymakers and staff alike, mustered the moral courage to do what was necessary, often in the face of bitter criticism and condemnation. I am grateful to all of them and proud to have been part of the global effort to contain the most dangerous economic crisis of our time.”
Reviews
"It was a happy chance that this scholar, known for his work on the Great Depression, was chairman of the central banking system of the US during the biggest financial crisis since the early 1930s. His [Bernanke's] new book, The Courage to Act, provides a fascinating account of the effort to save the world from another such catastrophe." — Martin Wolf, Lunch with the FT, Financial Times
"Bernanke's memoir is a crucial document of record that will be invaluable to future historians. As far as any memoir can be, it is an honest and accurate account. There is no hubris or exaggeration: simply a telling of the tale of the most dramatic period in office of any Fed Chairman to date." — Mervyn King, Prospect
"The former chair has penned a lucid account of the crisis and its aftermath... Mr Bernanke’s narrative of his time in office is a lucid, analytical affair… the book provides a robust defence of the Fed’s response to the crisis. Mr Bernanke clearly sees himself as someone who did what was necessary to save the economy from disaster, in the face of a barrage of unwarranted criticism. The result is a book which compels..." — The Economist
"Bernanke was at the helm of the world's most important central bank during the financial crisis of 2007-08... Here he gives a compelling account of what he and the Federal Reserve did and why they did it... the defence of the Fed against its critics is compelling." — Best Books of 2015, Financial Times
"It was Ben Bernanke, not Gordon Brown, who steered us through the 2008 financial meltdown...the book's most interesting chapters are those that deal with the crisis...Above all, [Bernanke] exuded calm, even when there was plenty of inner turmoil. The calmness comes over in this book, and so does plenty of the turmoil." — The Sunday Times
Also By: Ben S. Bernanke 
21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19
E Book, 2023
A former chair of the Federal Reserve explains the transformation of one our most powerful and consequential institutions
21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19
Paperback, 2023
A former chair of the Federal Reserve explains the transformation of one our most powerful and consequential institutions
21st Century Monetary Policy: The Federal Reserve from the Great Inflation to COVID-19
Hardback, 2022
A former chair of the Federal Reserve explains the transformation of one our most powerful and consequential institutions
The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath
Hardback, 2015
Ben S. Bernanke’s rise to chair of the Federal Reserve, the massive financial crisis, and the Fed’s bold and effective response.
AGE OF DELUSION CL
Hardback
