The bursting of a housing bubble in 2007 revealed the global financial system's underlying vulnerabilities, bringing it to the verge of collapse. Bernanke and his team at the Fed were consumed with efforts to stop the financial contagion, from the fall of investment bank Bear Stearns to the enormous bailout of insurance giant AIG. They battled the crisis around the clock, using every weapon at their disposal to keep the USand global economy afloat.

The Fed, together with colleagues in the Treasury Department, successfully stabilized a teetering financial system while working with two US presidents and under assault from a contentious Congress and a public outraged by Wall Street malfeasance. They avoided an unfathomable economic catastrophe via innovation and decisiveness and went on to design the unconventional initiatives that would help the US economy recover and become a model for other countries.

The Courage to Act recounts and explains America's biggest financial crisis and economic depression since the Great Depression, providing an insider's perspective of governmental responses. It is rich with information on the decision-making process in Washingtonand vivid portrayals of the important participants.

Ben S. Bernanke's book The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath is a memoir about a crisis and its aftermath. W. W. Norton Company published this book on May 2nd, 2017.