Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Shattered the Global Economy - Paperback Edition

Ardy 7 Kindle Customer: My sister wanted to read this so I bought it as present for her. She really got a lot out of it so I guess it was a hit.

United States on Jan 24, 2024

Christopher Batts: Very detailed and interesting insight into the loss of the gold standard and economic decision making in the early 1900s

United Kingdom on Jul 27, 2023

MarCar: The work behind this book is clearly humongous. So, hats off to the author. Historically a work of art. But the language is at times willinglynamd unnecessarily overcomplicated.

Italy on Jan 29, 2022

Unknown: This review is being written, while the world is in the middle of COVID related economic challenge. Lock downs and social distancing have impeded economic activity leading to job losses, salary cuts and economic challenges. People are looking towards their central bankers and Government for rescue.

Lords of Finance makes for an interesting read in such a backdrop. It is the story of the Central Bankers of USA, UK, France and Germany, of the decisions that they took, influenced their Government to take and the results.

The story starts with the end of first world war, which put reparations on Germany and resulting in European countries owing money to United States and the actions, thinking debates, etc. The story ends in a way with Roosevelt coming to power and his administration taking measures to get the USA and the world out of the economic crisis, by calming people and taking some counter-intuitive decisions like letting Agricultural prices to go up and drive out depression on the back of it.

A central theme of the book is to link fix the exchange rate by linking it to a Gold Standard. This is the way, the world worked historically, but by the end of it,...

India on Jun 01, 2020

John S. Reid: With almost 470 Amazon reviews (as of the time of this writing), what’s left to add? Presumably by this point the reader of this review knows what this book is about – i.e., how the actions of leaders of the central banks of the U.S., Britain, Germany and France ostensibly brought about the Great Depression of the 1930’s. (But that actually sells the narrative short – read more below.)

This book reads like a fascinating novel – but with real-life biographies, and real history, as the background. Ahamed writes for the masses – he does not assume a financial or economic background on the part of the reader. This book is so exceptionally well written that it becomes a page-turner – you just can’t wait to see what happens next! Commendably, the author does not suggest a conspiracy theory among, or incompetence on the part of, the main actors. As indicated below, they were merely further casualties of WWI. Each of the central banks (U.S. Britain, Germany and France) pursued different paths to recovery following the war, and none of them found the right answer. This is probably the result of three main problems: (i) the lack of coordination by the Central Banks in...

United States on Feb 11, 2020

Andrew: The best kind of history. Entertaining. Insightful. Educational.
Feels like I’ve done a course in economics. It makes a powerful case against old gold standard economics. I’m sure there’s another side to the story, as it’s very pro Keynesian - I will have to try to find something from the other side of the fence.

Australia on Nov 22, 2019

LuannBorges: Great book...gives us a chance to understand all the path to the 29 crisis, passing through the First World War and shaping the way that the most important financial heads think back then.

Brazil on Apr 15, 2019

Mike the K: Lords Of Finance is an excellent book for the average person who wants to understand monetary history from about 1900-1945, the Gold Standard's effect on world economies, and how economic disruption caused by political polarization and mismanagement helped pave the way for Hitler, the Japanese military junta and thereby World War II. (The Japanese history is not mentioned in the Lords of finance, but is covered by the book "Golden Fetters".) Lords of Finance makes the story interesting by detailing the careers and influence of the persons most involved with managing the world's economy at that time: Montagu Norman - Bank of England, Winston Churchill British Minster of the Exchequer (US=Treasury Secretary); Benjamin Strong, President of the New York Federal Reserve; Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank (later indicted war criminal - found not guilty); Emil Moreau of the Banque de France and John Maynard Keynes the "greatest economist of his generation". These, along with some other colorful characters are the Lords of Finance.

Lords of Finance covers International finances with starting with some overview of pre 1900 Central bank dealings and goes up to the Bretton-Woods...

United States on Jun 12, 2013