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The Courage to Act: A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath Hardcover – October 5, 2015

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Ben S. Bernanke (Author)
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3.7 out of 5 stars 167 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 624 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (October 5, 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 039324721X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0393247213
  • Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.9 x 9.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (167 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsUnderwriting? Poo Poo.
By History Major on December 13, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I am not an economist, just an old country lawyer. When I saw that my life savings had dwindled to practically nothing back in 2009, I decided to find out why. Unfortunately, there were a variety of reasons from which to choose. The most important, at least to me, was that Allen Greenspan chose to listen to a woman who once wrote a book asserting that free capitalism would solve all problems. All we had to do was leave the economy alone and the markets would work things out. Of course, anyone with any knowledge of human behavior should have known that when free to do anything they want, people in charge of other people's money, cheat. They steal, manipulate others, and pat themselves on the back when they get away with it.

The first real insight I received during my investigation fell out of Greenspan's book, "The Age of Turbulence." Since he was in charge of the Federal Reserve Bank while the banks were failing, and it was his job to oversee the banks, reading his comments ought to have been enlightening. And, it was. Somewhere in the bowels of the book he admitted and quickly passed by a statement to the effect he had never in his wildest imagination considered that banks big and small would have given up their underwriting practices. Checking the credit of the borrowers is essential to all lending agencies, and yet ... they abandoned the practice. Of course, it was Greenspan's job to know about this. Eliminating such practices saved the banks tons of money and allowed them to sell their mortgages to Wall St. security companies without holding the paper for long, thus relieving them of the risk of the mortgage defaults.Read more ›
16 Comments 10 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Courage to Teach
By Josh Rudolph on December 7, 2015
Format: Hardcover
This book would have an average rating of 4.5 stars if it wasn’t for the 35% of reviewers who give it one star. Judging by the one-line reviews of those one-star trolls, they don’t seem to have read the book or understand what the Federal Reserve does. That is unfortunate, because those are the folks who would benefit the most from reading this book. Bernanke spent much of his career pushing the Fed to be more transparent and to do more public outreach, and no other book offers a more informed and thoughtful explanation of how and why the most important economic policy decisions of our lifetime were actually made.

The book is not without its limitations. Most of the informational content was already public in one form or another, such as through the Fed’s exhaustive minutes and transcripts. And while the author admits to some mistakes around timing or perception, he puts more energy into defending his key actions than he puts into dispassionately pondering how unconventional monetary policy might have worked better, what future evolutions of policy innovation might look like, and what kind of adaptations our political institutions must undergo to enhance their flexibility when responding to financial and economic crises. On these essential questions, the book is not very courageous.

But don't let those drawbacks prevent you from seeing this book’s two unique and essential contributions, either one of which earns it a five-star review.

First, it is an inspirational story about how a man who came from humble roots and became one of the world’s leading experts on the Great Depression unexpectedly found himself in the singular position of being able to save America from falling into a Second Great Depression.Read more ›
6 Comments 38 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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4.0 out of 5 starsOnly in America
By David Shulman on October 24, 2015
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is an American story about the rise of the son of a Jewish druggist from the backwater town to Dillon, South Carolina to the commanding heights of the global economy. When he is writing about his boyhood and personal life Bernanke writing shows the benefits of the creative writing course he took in his freshman year at Harvard. Unfortunately when he writes about policy making the writing becomes more guarded and academic. Nevertheless it remains a very lucid account of the financial crisis and its aftermath.

He chronicles his early life in the segregated South to his working construction and as waiter at the very touristy South of the Border rest stop off I-95 to his arrival at Harvard and graduate school at MIT. From there he goes on to teach at Stanford and Princeton establishing his reputation as a leading scholar of the depression (See his “Essays on the Great Depression”)

He leaves academia first to become appointed a Governor on the Federal Reserve Board by President George W. Bush, to the chairmanship of the Council of Economic and then in early 2006 to the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve Board. To my mind the Fed including Bernanke and other regulators flunked in failing to see the onset of the financial crisis brought about by reckless lending not only in the housing markets but through the creation of an array of toxic financial products. However with the onset of the financial crisis in August 2007 through mid-2009 the Fed and others did indeed have the courage to act. Here Bernanke and crew get an A in throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the crisis. In my mind their actions avoided the Great Depression 2.0.

Bernanke argues, correctly in my opinion, that Lehman Brothers, my former employer, could not have been saved.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A very comprehensive discussion around the Fed's actions during the GFC

Published 10 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great for economic self education. Ben is an awesome teacher

Published 11 days ago by Frances Crighton
5.0 out of 5 starsNon silo types of academics will love this book

While this book is partly about economics, there is a substantial infusion of political science, sociology and psychology. Read more

Published 12 days ago by James L. Bowditch
2.0 out of 5 stars'I didn't do it': an exercise in self-exculpation.

The really remarkable feature of this book is the utter absence of any discussion of the key and fundamental role the Fed's macro-economic policy played in causing the 2008 crisis. Read more

Published 15 days ago by Giles Conway-Gordon
5.0 out of 5 starsIntellectual and informative

Informative and well written. I highly recommend for anyone who wants to gain a first hand knowledge of the financial crises.

Published 20 days ago by RWI
5.0 out of 5 starsA good analysis of the 2008 financial panic.

An interesting read, goes into depth about the cause and recovery from the 2008 financial panic. For another point of view, read Tim Geithner's and Hank Paulson's books on the... Read more

Published 20 days ago by WMS
3.0 out of 5 starsFails to Mention "Secret Loans"

I bought the book on Barnes & Noble because I had to show proof of purchase there to get into that store where Bernanke was giving a speech announcing the book. Read more

Published 22 days ago by Bill Chapman
5.0 out of 5 stars... States and possibly the world from a devastating Second Great...

Ben Bernanke saved the United States and possibly the world from a devastating Second Great Depression. He along with Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner kept our economy afloat. Read more

Published 23 days ago by Valerie
5.0 out of 5 starsCan; t put it down. Of course the ...

Can;t put it down. Of course the whole Fed and wall street are in cahoots!

Published 24 days ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent and understandable.

Readable for the non economist. Tells the story of crisis and how the Fed reacted and why. Should be required reading for all political candidates who think they have all the... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Patty

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