FT Business Book of the Year

Best business books

All the books longlisted for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award

Firefighting by Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Henry Paulson Jr

Firefighting

The authors of Firefighting undeniably have a tale to tell…This is the inside story, 10 years on, of how America’s top policymakers tried to contain a financial implosion that threatened to send not just the US but the whole world into a replay of the 1930s Great Depression. — Read the complete FT review

Synopsis

From the three primary architects of the American policy response to the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression, a magnificent big-picture synthesis – from why it happened to where we are now.

In 2018, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, and Hank Paulson came together to reflect on the lessons of the 2008 financial crisis ten years on. Recognizing that, as Ben put it, “the enemy is forgetting,” they examine the causes of the crisis, why it was so damaging, and what it ultimately took to prevent a second Great Depression. And they provide to their successors in the United States and the finance ministers and central bank governors of other countries a valuable playbook for reducing the damage from future financial crises. Firefighting provides a candid and powerful account of the choices they and their teams made during the crisis, working under two presidents and with the leaders of Congress.