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Lords of Finance

The Bankers Who Broke the World

How four central bankers steered the world into the Depression.

by Liaquat Ahamed

Lords of Finance tells the story of the four central bankers whose decisions in the years between the world wars helped trigger the Great Depression. Liaquat Ahamed profiles the heads of the central banks of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany as they grappled with debt, gold, and crisis. The book is a vivid study of how a few powerful people's choices reshaped the global economy.

Founders make high-stakes decisions under uncertainty, and this book shows how smart, powerful leaders got the big calls catastrophically wrong by clinging to flawed assumptions. It is a humbling lesson in leadership, judgment, and the cost of inflexible thinking.

Where to get it