First published 2009
Timothy Geithner barely sleeps as the financial system crumbles around him. The Federal Reserve president watches Lehman Brothers implode from the inside while Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson scrambles to contain the damage. "We've got to get some foam down on the runway!" Geithner tells his colleague as banks teeter on the edge of catastrophe. From Wall Street boardrooms to secret gatherings in South Korea, the most powerful figures in finance and politics battle their own egos and ambitions while the world economy hangs in the balance. These titans of industry believed they were invincible, but decisions made over the previous decade now threaten to destroy everything. As the crisis spreads globally, Geithner and his allies must navigate treacherous political waters and make impossible choices. The fate of nations rests on whether they can save institutions that have grown too massive to let die.
Genres: business, political-science, economics, non-fiction, 21st-century, finance
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: high-stakes, insider-perspective
Setting: South Korea, Wall Street
Period: 2000s
600 pages · Hardcover · Viking