Ben S. Bernanke was chosen chair of the
Federal Reserve in 2006, marking the unexpected culmination of a personal odyssey from small-town
South Carolina to prominent academic posts and eventually public service in the halls of power in
Washington. There wouldn't be any time to rejoice.
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
US
and 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
Washington and 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.