First published 2015
Roger Lowenstein chronicles the political battle that created America's central banking system. For nearly a century, the United States operated without any coordinating financial authority, leaving individual banks to fend for themselves during frequent panics and economic collapses. By 1900, this chaotic system could no longer support the country's growing industrial economy, yet Americans deeply distrusted both big government and big banks. Lowenstein focuses on four key figures who overcame this resistance: Paul Warburg, a German financier shocked by America's primitive banking; Senator Nelson Aldrich, a Gilded Age power broker; Congressman Carter Glass, who chaired the House Banking Committee; and President Woodrow Wilson, who forced compromises between warring factions. Through economic crisis, secretive Wall Street meetings, and fierce congressional debates, these men crafted the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Lowenstein reveals how financial necessity, political maneuvering, and personal ambition combined to establish an institution that remains central to American economic life.
Genres: history, 20th-century, business, economics, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-drama, political-thriller
Setting: America, Wall Street
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
368 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press