Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World

Lords of Finance provides insightful analysis of the world economic collapse in the late 1920s, revealing how the decisions of a few central bankers led to the Great Depression and set the stage for World War II. The book introduces the four men who led their respective central banks: Montagu Norman of the Bank of England, Émile Moreau of the Banque de France, Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, and Benjamin Strong of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Despite their differences, they shared a common fear of inflation and a vision of returning the world to the gold standard.

In the mid-1920s, they achieved their goal, stabilizing the world’s currencies and facilitating the free flow of capital. However, the gold standard proved to be a straitjacket that ultimately led to the Great Depression. The book illustrates how the decisions of central bankers can have a profound impact on the global financial system and the human consequences of their fallibility.

As current economic turmoil dominates headlines, Lords of Finance offers a timely reminder of the dangers of financial crises and the pivotal role of central bankers in shaping the course of history.

Liaquat Ahamed, a hedge fund manager and Brookings Institution trustee, got the idea to write the book when he read the 1999 Time story “The Committee to Save the World,” which discussed Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Lawrence Summers. The book was generally well received by critics and won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2010.