Chronicles the tumultuous era and remarkable personalities that created the Federal Reserve, tracing the financial panic and widespread distrust of bankers that prompted the landmark 1913 Federal Reserve Act and launched America's first steps onto the world financial stage.

The marble halls of the Federal Reserve have always held secrets; for decades the Fed did the utmost to preserve its room to maneuver, operating behind the scenes as much as possible. Yet over the past two decades, this elite world of bankers and economists speaking a language that only monetary experts could understand has been forced to change its ways. Amid rising inequality, weakening global economic prospects, and a pandemic, the central bank...

"Mitchel Abolafia goes behind the scenes with the Federal Reserve's powerful Open Market Committee as it responded to the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Relying on verbatim transcripts of closed meetings, Abolafia shows how assumptions about self-correcting markets stymied the Fed and how its leaders came to embrace new ideas"--

"Owen Ullmann's intimate portrait of the heart and mind of Janet Yellen is the riveting story of one of the most remarkable careers of recent times. The ultimate glass-ceiling buster, Yellen is the first person to hold all three of America's top economic policy positions: Treasury Secretary (the first woman to hold the job), chair of the Federal Reserve and of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Yellen's sheer brilliance was certainly foundational,...