Lords of Finance

Explore the personal and professional decisions of four central bankers in the late 1920s that caused the Great Depression and changed the course of the twentieth century. In Lords of Finance, author Liaquat Ahamed offers unforgettable portraits of these men, including the neurotic Montagu Norman, the suspicious Émile Moreau, the brilliant yet arrogant Hjalmar Schacht, and the deeply wounded Benjamin Strong. Despite their differences, they shared the fear that inflation was the greatest threat to capitalism, and attempted to stabilize the world's currencies by turning back to the gold standard. However, cracks soon began to show, and the Great Depression began its terrible downward spiral. Ahamed's work offers a new perspective on financial crises and serves as a potent reminder of their human consequences.