The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath
Ben S. Bernanke
This was a pretty enjoyable recap of the financial crisis from the ultimate insider’s perspective. Unsurprisingly, Bernanke is a pretty good writer. I definitely think this book would be accessible to the interested non-specialist, but never felt tedious for this specialist. I was glad to see that BSB addressed head-on some of the more controversial aspects of the Fed’s crisis management, including the payoff of AIG’s derivative counterparties at par and of course the non-bailout of Lehman. His arguments seemed convincing, if not impregnable.
It’s amazing to think that the heart of the crisis was seven years ago. I guess my career is such an outgrowth of it that it still looms very large for me!