The Alchemists: Inside the secret world of central bankers

Lead economic correspondent for the Washington Post, Neil Irwin, offers rare insights into the shadowy and unknown world of the four most influential bankers on the planet: Ben Bernanke of the US Federal Reserve, Mervyn King of the Bank of England, Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank, and Zhou Xiaochuan of the People's Bank of China. The decisions that these four men make determine the fates of nations - their successes allow for global hegemony; their failures lead to national decline.

Decisions by these central bankers will determine whether the world can brush aside the after-effects of the Great Panic of 2008 to create a more stable and more prosperous world.

The Alchemists will give readers an exclusive, behind-the-scenes view of their work, and a better understanding of their true significance in our lives and livelihood.

Short-listed for Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2013

“[Mr. Irwin] has provided an accessible, engrossing account of the tribulations that Mr. Bernanke, with Mervyn A. King of the Bank of England and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank, endured in pulling the world financial system back from collapse... Mr. Irwin seems to have talked with everyone, read the right scholarly papers and interviewed important dissenters in the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bundesbank... He has a nice touch for translating central banking's mysteries, opaque and forbidding, into understandable English. He is astute in describing the internal and external politics of institutions traditionally expected to remain above politics of the usual sort.”

Brilliantly reported and riveting, Neil Irwin's The Alchemists is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the global reach of the financial crisis through which we are still living. The international perspective brings a fascinating and wholly new dimension to the story, one that has until now not been adequately told. - Liaquat Ahamed, author of 'Lords of Finance'

Brings events to life without losing sight of the bigger issues. - Money Week

Neil Irwin is the lead economics correspondent for The Washington Post and beat reporter covering the Federal Reserve. He was named one of Washingtonian magazine's 'Rising Stars' in a 2009 feature on 'Top Washington Journalists' and his work has won two 'Best of Business' awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a master's degree from Columbia's journalism school, where he was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economic and Business Journalism.

Lead economic correspondent for the Washington Post, Neil Irwin, offers rare insights into the shadowy and unknown world of the four most influential bankers on the planet: Ben Bernanke of the US Federal Reserve, Mervyn King of the Bank of England, Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank, and Zhou Xiaochuan of the People's Bank of China. The decisions that these four men make determine the fates of nations - their successes allow for global hegemony; their failures lead to national decline.Decisions by these central bankers will determine whether the world can brush aside the after-effects of the Great Panic of 2008 to create a more stable and more prosperous world. The Alchemists will give readers an exclusive, behind-the-scenes view of their work, and a better understanding of their true significance in our lives and livelihood.

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