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Alchemists Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire

The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire

By Neil Irwin

The inside story of the world's most powerful central bankers--and the most intense exercise in economic crisis management the world has ever seen Suddenly, without warning, in August 2007, three men who had never been elected to public office found themselves the most powerful people in the world. They were the leaders of the world's three most important central banks: Ben Bernanke of the U.

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Book Information

Publisher: Penguin Books
Publish Date: 03/25/2014
Pages: 448
ISBN-13: 9780143124993
ISBN-10: 0143124994
Language: Eng

What We're Saying

December 23, 2013

Click on the links below to read more about our choices for the top books of 2013, as well as the books that made our category shortlists. We will be announcing the Best Business Book of 2013 at our (mostly) annual We Believe in Books party in NYC the second week of January. Stay tuned! READ FULL DESCRIPTION

December 16, 2013

The entries were submitted, the books were read, the shortlists determined, and we are now ready to announce the category winners of the 2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards! In the Finance & Economics category. . READ FULL DESCRIPTION

December 13, 2013

Over the course of this week, we will be posting the shortlist selections for our 8 business book categories: General Business, Leadership, Management, Entrepreneurship & Small Business, Marketing & Sales, Personal Development, Innovation & Creativity, Finance & Economics. On Monday, December 16th, we'll announce the 8 category winners! In early January, the overall winner of the 2013 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards will be awarded, so stay tuned to The Daily Blog for all the good news. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

September 19, 2013

The Financial Times has announced the shortlist for their annual business book award, co-sponsored with Goldman Sachs. The have narrowed the field to six: The Alchemists: Thee Central Bankers and a World On Fire by Neil Irwin, The Penguin Press Making it Happen: Fred Goodwin, RBS and the Men Who Blew Up the British Economy by Iain Martin, Simon and Schuster (not yet released in the U. S. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

August 07, 2013

The Financial Times & Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year longlist has been announced. It is, as Andrew Hill of the FT writes, a reading list that mixes low deeds and high hopes (registration required). The list includes: After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead by Alan Blinder, The Penguin Press The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire by Neil Irwin, The Penguin Press Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger & Kenneth Cukier, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt The Billionaire’s Apprentice: The Rise of The Indian-American Elite and The Fall of The Galleon Hedge Fund by Anita Raghavan, Business Plus The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business by Rita Gunther McGrath, Harvard Business Review Press The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn’t What It Used to Be by Moisés Naím, Basic Books The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone, Little Brown and Company Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success by Adam Grant, Viking Books The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality by Angus Deaton, Princeton University Press How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World’s Most Dynamic Region by Joe Studwell, Grove Press Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg, Knopf Publishing Group Making it Happen: Fred Goodwin, RBS and the Men Who Blew Up the British Economy by Iain Martin, Simon and Schuster (I don't see that this is being released in the U. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

April 12, 2013

The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire by Neil Irwin, The Penguin Press, 400 pages, $29. 95, Hardcover, April 2013, ISBN 9781594204623 Central banks are among the world’s most powerful, complicated, and controversial institutions. They are also some of the world’s most secretive and least understood organizations, which makes Neil Irwin’s The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire such an important addition to our bookshelves. READ FULL DESCRIPTION

Full Description

The inside story of the world's most powerful central bankers--and the most intense exercise in economic crisis management the world has ever seen Suddenly, without warning, in August 2007, three men who had never been elected to public office found themselves the most powerful people in the world. They were the leaders of the world's three most important central banks: Ben Bernanke of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Mervyn King of the Bank of England, and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank. In The Alchemists, Washington Post reporter Neil Irwin presents the truly global story of the central bankers' role in the world economy that we have been missing. Definitive, revelatory, and riveting, it shows us where money comes from--and where it may well be going.

About the Author

Neil Irwin is a Washington Post columnist and economics editor of the Post 's Wonkblog website. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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