“America’s Bank” by Roger Lowenstein tells how our Federal Reserve system came into being. At the start of the 20th century, the U.S. was the world’s sole industrialized nation to lack a central banking system. In this unregulated banking system, says Lowenstein, local banks often overextended their deposits and issued undervalued bank notes, resulting in bad credit, bank failures and full-on depressions. Despite this, the idea of a central bank was resisted by many Americans. But after the bank panic of 1907, interest in a national banking system gained momentum. Lowenstein details the debates and trade-offs that led to the creation of Federal Reserve System (1913), which sets interest rates and monetary policy. This is a “ tour de force of historical reportage.” Another MVSB Book of the Month
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