---
product_id: 8422816
title: "Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Pulitzer Prize Winner)"
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---

# Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

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Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Pulitzer Prize Winner) [Ahamed, Liaquat] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Review: Why the Governor on FED of N.Y. and not Chairman of FED Board - "Lords of Finance - The Bankers Who Broke the World" by Liaquat Ahamed is an intimate look at the lives of four central bankers and the friendships forged between them. The thesis of the book seems to be that the Great Depression of the 1930's was not caused by a series of converging events but instead was brought about by the decisions made by the "Lords of Finance". Who are these "Lords" you may ask? Germany's Hjalmar Schacht - Head of the Reichbank Benjamin Strong - Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Montagu Norman - Head of the Bank of England Emile Moreau - Head of the Banque de France I have to give kudos to Mr. Ahamed for authoring such an entertaining and interesting look into a subject that some would consider to be dry monetary history or should I say biography seasoned with economic and monetary history. The later description being the secret to the book's entertaining quality. Mr. Ahamed delves into the personal lives of his Lords and focus not only on the economics and policy but also the friendships and animosities. Some people dismiss the book as Keynesian propaganda, since the book doesn't address the financial machinations and manipulation that was going on at the time behind the scenes. Although I sympathize with their criticism, I still believe that the "Lords of Finance - The Bankers who Broke the World" is relevant and insightful, for one should always read opposing views and keep an open mind. For those readers who would like to learn more about the so called "Conspiratorial" point of view, I will recommend some other works following the review. Note: I use the term "Conspiratorial" loosely without the intent of marginalizing that school of thought. I found it revealing that Mr. Ahamed's chose Benjamin Strong "Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York" as the main American Protagonist not any or all of the four individuals who served as "Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors" during the period. The four individuals I refer to are Charles S. Hamlin, William P. G. Harding, Daniel R. Crissinger, and Roy A. Young. I believe Mr. Ahamed's choice of focusing on the private corporation that is Federal Reserve Bank of N.Y. instead of the governmental body called the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was the correct choice. It screams out, true power lies in New York not Washington. The main criticism I've already mentioned above and labeled the "Conspiratorial Point of View" which Mr. Ahamed doesn't address in any significant manner in the book. To give you an example of information ignored by Mr. Ahamed was Congressman Louis McFadden's speech on the floor of the House of Representatives charging the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Secretary of the Treasury with Treason, Unlawful Conversion, Conspiracy, and Fraud. McFadden mentions the funding of Hitler and the Bolsheviks rise to power by the Federal Reserve Banks. The information is out there if you take the time to do the research. To summarize, The "Lords of Finance" is an interesting read the way the story ebbs and flows between the main characters makes for masterwork in writing. I wish most books were this well written. My only issue is with the thesis that a group of bankers mishandled the power of their offices and that lead to the Great Depression, but they didn't intend to cause a depression. I contend that Mr. Ahamed is correct except with respect to intention. To me the evidence shows that at least Montagu Norman and Benjamin Strong and probably Hjalmar Schacht knew that the plan was to cause a depression and they actively worked towards that end in secret. Now for the list of Books: Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution: The Remarkable True Story of the American Capitalists Who Financed the Russian Communists Wall Street and FDR Conjuring Hitler The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve Super Imperialism - New Edition: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominanc Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949 Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (2 Volume Set) The Great Contraction, 1929-1933: (New Edition) (Princeton Classic Editions) Money Creators
Review: A fascinating (but incomplete) account of a financial train wreck. - With almost 470 desertcart reviews (as of the time of this writing), what’s left to add? Presumably by this point the reader of this review knows what this book is about – i.e., how the actions of leaders of the central banks of the U.S., Britain, Germany and France ostensibly brought about the Great Depression of the 1930’s. (But that actually sells the narrative short – read more below.) This book reads like a fascinating novel – but with real-life biographies, and real history, as the background. Ahamed writes for the masses – he does not assume a financial or economic background on the part of the reader. This book is so exceptionally well written that it becomes a page-turner – you just can’t wait to see what happens next! Commendably, the author does not suggest a conspiracy theory among, or incompetence on the part of, the main actors. As indicated below, they were merely further casualties of WWI. Each of the central banks (U.S. Britain, Germany and France) pursued different paths to recovery following the war, and none of them found the right answer. This is probably the result of three main problems: (i) the lack of coordination by the Central Banks in developing a global policy for economic recovery following the war; (ii) a failure on the part of Britain to acknowledge that the global economic landscape had been fundamentally altered by the war; and (iii) a failure on the part of the central actors to understand what was going on. As Maynard Keynes said in 1930 (pg. 374), “We have involved ourselves in a colossal muddle, having blundered in the control of a delicate machine, the working of which we do not understand.” While not a course book on international finance, the author does provide enough details to educate the reader about some of the basics (e.g., the gold standard, international lending, devaluation of currency, and international transfers of capital). As for my 4-star rating, and the title of this review (about the narrative being incomplete), I recommend reading the following in order to gain a broader perspective: “Hidden History” (Docherty and Macgregor), which suggests (with considerable convincing evidence) that the British manipulated France and Russia into war with Germany in 1914 in order to remove Germany as an economic competitor to Britain. My guess is that the architects behind this scheme (Lord Alfred Milner, in particular) had no clue as to what the economic consequences of war would be – they just had a narrow-focused goal of removing a commercial competitor. Thus, the central characters of “Lords of Finance” were probably just historical casualties of those with deeper, and darker, long term motives. Britain sowed the wind leading up to WWI, and the world reaped the whirlwind afterwards (with Britain refusing to acknowledge that there was, in fact, a whirlwind, trying vainly to reestablish their place of prominence in world finance by going back to an unrealistic pre-war gold-based exchange rate). All of the financial machinations (on the part of all parties) to rebuild the world economy after WWI failed to appreciate one fundamental concept – i.e., at some point creditors stop providing credit when they suspect that they might not be able to get repaid. Once credit stops, the economy flops. This holds true unless the creditors have a source they can tap to continue their bad lending practices – see next paragraph. I also gave this book a 4-star review because the author never asks – or answers- the fundamental question, “who eventually pays when central banks bail out other banks and nations who have made poor decisions?” The answer is “individual investors and savers.” Case in point: in 2007 an IRA or 401K worth $1 million likely took a 40% hit – i.e., a $400,000 “tax”. Multiply that by say three million such accounts, and suddenly you have $1.2 trillion gone from people’s retirement accounts. Where did all of that wealth go? Answer: to pay for loans by the Fed to bail out Greece, Spain, and bad real estate loans in the U.S. It was basically just a redistribution of wealth – socialism conducted under the guise of “central banking”. Read “The Creature from Jekyll Island” (regarding the establishment, and workings, of the U.S. Federal Reserve system) and you will have any eye-opening education on the truth behind “central banking”.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #25,470 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #4 in Business Ethics (Books) #14 in Banks & Banking (Books) #60 in Economic History (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,949 Reviews |

## Images

![Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World (Pulitzer Prize Winner) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81QMhYdKuHL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Why the Governor on FED of N.Y. and not Chairman of FED Board
*by N***F on September 23, 2012*

"Lords of Finance - The Bankers Who Broke the World" by Liaquat Ahamed is an intimate look at the lives of four central bankers and the friendships forged between them. The thesis of the book seems to be that the Great Depression of the 1930's was not caused by a series of converging events but instead was brought about by the decisions made by the "Lords of Finance". Who are these "Lords" you may ask? Germany's Hjalmar Schacht - Head of the Reichbank Benjamin Strong - Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Montagu Norman - Head of the Bank of England Emile Moreau - Head of the Banque de France I have to give kudos to Mr. Ahamed for authoring such an entertaining and interesting look into a subject that some would consider to be dry monetary history or should I say biography seasoned with economic and monetary history. The later description being the secret to the book's entertaining quality. Mr. Ahamed delves into the personal lives of his Lords and focus not only on the economics and policy but also the friendships and animosities. Some people dismiss the book as Keynesian propaganda, since the book doesn't address the financial machinations and manipulation that was going on at the time behind the scenes. Although I sympathize with their criticism, I still believe that the "Lords of Finance - The Bankers who Broke the World" is relevant and insightful, for one should always read opposing views and keep an open mind. For those readers who would like to learn more about the so called "Conspiratorial" point of view, I will recommend some other works following the review. Note: I use the term "Conspiratorial" loosely without the intent of marginalizing that school of thought. I found it revealing that Mr. Ahamed's chose Benjamin Strong "Governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York" as the main American Protagonist not any or all of the four individuals who served as "Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors" during the period. The four individuals I refer to are Charles S. Hamlin, William P. G. Harding, Daniel R. Crissinger, and Roy A. Young. I believe Mr. Ahamed's choice of focusing on the private corporation that is Federal Reserve Bank of N.Y. instead of the governmental body called the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was the correct choice. It screams out, true power lies in New York not Washington. The main criticism I've already mentioned above and labeled the "Conspiratorial Point of View" which Mr. Ahamed doesn't address in any significant manner in the book. To give you an example of information ignored by Mr. Ahamed was Congressman Louis McFadden's speech on the floor of the House of Representatives charging the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Secretary of the Treasury with Treason, Unlawful Conversion, Conspiracy, and Fraud. McFadden mentions the funding of Hitler and the Bolsheviks rise to power by the Federal Reserve Banks. The information is out there if you take the time to do the research. To summarize, The "Lords of Finance" is an interesting read the way the story ebbs and flows between the main characters makes for masterwork in writing. I wish most books were this well written. My only issue is with the thesis that a group of bankers mishandled the power of their offices and that lead to the Great Depression, but they didn't intend to cause a depression. I contend that Mr. Ahamed is correct except with respect to intention. To me the evidence shows that at least Montagu Norman and Benjamin Strong and probably Hjalmar Schacht knew that the plan was to cause a depression and they actively worked towards that end in secret. Now for the list of Books: Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution: The Remarkable True Story of the American Capitalists Who Financed the Russian Communists Wall Street and FDR Conjuring Hitler The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve Super Imperialism - New Edition: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominanc Trading with the Enemy: the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949 Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (2 Volume Set) The Great Contraction, 1929-1933: (New Edition) (Princeton Classic Editions) Money Creators

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A fascinating (but incomplete) account of a financial train wreck.
*by J***D on February 11, 2020*

With almost 470 Amazon reviews (as of the time of this writing), what’s left to add? Presumably by this point the reader of this review knows what this book is about – i.e., how the actions of leaders of the central banks of the U.S., Britain, Germany and France ostensibly brought about the Great Depression of the 1930’s. (But that actually sells the narrative short – read more below.) This book reads like a fascinating novel – but with real-life biographies, and real history, as the background. Ahamed writes for the masses – he does not assume a financial or economic background on the part of the reader. This book is so exceptionally well written that it becomes a page-turner – you just can’t wait to see what happens next! Commendably, the author does not suggest a conspiracy theory among, or incompetence on the part of, the main actors. As indicated below, they were merely further casualties of WWI. Each of the central banks (U.S. Britain, Germany and France) pursued different paths to recovery following the war, and none of them found the right answer. This is probably the result of three main problems: (i) the lack of coordination by the Central Banks in developing a global policy for economic recovery following the war; (ii) a failure on the part of Britain to acknowledge that the global economic landscape had been fundamentally altered by the war; and (iii) a failure on the part of the central actors to understand what was going on. As Maynard Keynes said in 1930 (pg. 374), “We have involved ourselves in a colossal muddle, having blundered in the control of a delicate machine, the working of which we do not understand.” While not a course book on international finance, the author does provide enough details to educate the reader about some of the basics (e.g., the gold standard, international lending, devaluation of currency, and international transfers of capital). As for my 4-star rating, and the title of this review (about the narrative being incomplete), I recommend reading the following in order to gain a broader perspective: “Hidden History” (Docherty and Macgregor), which suggests (with considerable convincing evidence) that the British manipulated France and Russia into war with Germany in 1914 in order to remove Germany as an economic competitor to Britain. My guess is that the architects behind this scheme (Lord Alfred Milner, in particular) had no clue as to what the economic consequences of war would be – they just had a narrow-focused goal of removing a commercial competitor. Thus, the central characters of “Lords of Finance” were probably just historical casualties of those with deeper, and darker, long term motives. Britain sowed the wind leading up to WWI, and the world reaped the whirlwind afterwards (with Britain refusing to acknowledge that there was, in fact, a whirlwind, trying vainly to reestablish their place of prominence in world finance by going back to an unrealistic pre-war gold-based exchange rate). All of the financial machinations (on the part of all parties) to rebuild the world economy after WWI failed to appreciate one fundamental concept – i.e., at some point creditors stop providing credit when they suspect that they might not be able to get repaid. Once credit stops, the economy flops. This holds true unless the creditors have a source they can tap to continue their bad lending practices – see next paragraph. I also gave this book a 4-star review because the author never asks – or answers- the fundamental question, “who eventually pays when central banks bail out other banks and nations who have made poor decisions?” The answer is “individual investors and savers.” Case in point: in 2007 an IRA or 401K worth $1 million likely took a 40% hit – i.e., a $400,000 “tax”. Multiply that by say three million such accounts, and suddenly you have $1.2 trillion gone from people’s retirement accounts. Where did all of that wealth go? Answer: to pay for loans by the Fed to bail out Greece, Spain, and bad real estate loans in the U.S. It was basically just a redistribution of wealth – socialism conducted under the guise of “central banking”. Read “The Creature from Jekyll Island” (regarding the establishment, and workings, of the U.S. Federal Reserve system) and you will have any eye-opening education on the truth behind “central banking”.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent book - "Golden Fetters" lite with personalty
*by M***K on June 12, 2013*

Lords Of Finance is an excellent book for the average person who wants to understand monetary history from about 1900-1945, the Gold Standard's effect on world economies, and how economic disruption caused by political polarization and mismanagement helped pave the way for Hitler, the Japanese military junta and thereby World War II. (The Japanese history is not mentioned in the Lords of finance, but is covered by the book "Golden Fetters".) Lords of Finance makes the story interesting by detailing the careers and influence of the persons most involved with managing the world's economy at that time: Montagu Norman - Bank of England, Winston Churchill British Minster of the Exchequer (US=Treasury Secretary); Benjamin Strong, President of the New York Federal Reserve; Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank (later indicted war criminal - found not guilty); Emil Moreau of the Banque de France and John Maynard Keynes the "greatest economist of his generation". These, along with some other colorful characters are the Lords of Finance. Lords of Finance covers International finances with starting with some overview of pre 1900 Central bank dealings and goes up to the Bretton-Woods agrement that fixed the dollar to gold and other curriences to the dollar. Especially interesting is the German hyper-inflation after WW I which was partially, if not wholly, self-inflicted by Germany in an attempt to forestall onerous reparations payment. But during this same period Germany also borrowed money from the U.S. to build municipal swimming pools. It would seem that Germany inflicted sever damage on its own economy to avoid reparations payment. This failure to pay by Germany led, in 1923, to the French invasion and military takeover of the Ruhr valley: Germany's industrial heartland. Lords of Finance also covers the tabloid side of finance. Joseph Caillaux, was a radical who had suggested an income tax be adopted in France. Le Figaro, a conservative newspaper, then published the love letters that Joseph Caillaux had written to a former mistress. Madame Caillaux, his wife, was upset and purchased a gun. She went to the offices of Le Figaro and waited two hours for the editor to come out. She said to him, "You know why I'm here", and shot him dead. She was put on trial, but an all-male jury found her not-guilty as it was a crime of passion. Monsieur Caillaux had his own problems and was convicted of financial irregularities. When he returned to the Ministry of Finance, "an American newsmagazine reported that it was as if Benedict Arnold, instead of being executed, had been barred from Philadelphia, exiled to the country, then pardoned, and appointed secretary or war. " I had first started reading "Golden Fetters: the Gold Standard and the Great Depression" which covers roughly the same ground as Lords of Finance. But Golden Fetters is more technical and a bit over my head (I have no formal economics training) but very informative. It has incisive analyses of parliamentary vs. US style two party democracy, and looks at the political polarization that occurred in Germany and Japan over who should pay taxes (sound familiar?). This gridlock helped destroy those economies (think Tea Party blocking the repayment of national debt). That led to death squads and right wing takeovers. The military put people back to work: building armaments. In Germany they made lots of guns but butter and domestic needs were hard to come by. About a third of the way through I started reading "Lords of Finance". Lords of Finance covers pretty much the same ground as Golden Fetters but in less technical terms and less depth. Golden Fetters gives detailed accounts of Gold reserves, balance of payments, foreign currency reserves etc. buttressed by pages of charts graphs and tables of same for every major country in Europe and North and South America. I just skipped the tables. Lords of Finance gives a clear picture of the economic forces at work and the theories behind them plus details about the people who controlled the world's economies. Both books agree that the Gold Standard is a strait-jacket that is fine in normal times, but when things get dicey (WW I, WW II, Great Depression, recession of 2008) it proves fatal. That is why the world's economies were forced off the gold standard over and over again. When countries tried to return they paid a high price in fewer exports and rising unemployment. The Gold Standard constrains the money supply and hence economic growth. Bankers love it as it discourages inflation and encourages deflation. Think, do you want to pay back your mortgage in dollars worth more or less than the ones you borrowed. Inflation: good for debtors, bad for bankers; deflation good for bankers and savers, bad for debtors. Deflation: prices go down (good for savers), exports are hurt, and unemployment goes up. Winston Churchill called returning to the gold standard, "the biggest blunder in his life." He blamed it on the bad advice that he had received from the Governor of the bank of England (Norman) and by the experts of the Treasury who called the gold standard "knave-proof. It could not be rigged for political reasons." It would prevent Britain from "Living in a fool's paradise of false prosperity." Learning from this Churchill, during WW II, would trust his gut and let the military "experts" be dammed. History repeats itself, Oh boy does it. In 1931 the US government could have stopped the first of a string of bank failures by injecting thirty-two million dollars into the Bank of the United States (no government affiliation). In 2008 thirty billion dollars in guarantees would have saved Lehman Bros. For want of a nail a shoe was lost... Good books: The End of Wall Street (highly recommended) - a footnoted blow-by-blow of the crises of 2008; Thirteen Bankers (also highly recommended)- history of U.S. banking from roughly 1900 to 2009. Golden Fetters: the Gold Standard and the Great Depression 1919-1939 (rather technical): A monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman (very technical and way over my head); and of course, Lords of Finance (a must).

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