A vivid portrait of an exceptional woman and a lively history of the economic and financial
crises that helped make the treasury secretary and former Fed chair who she is today. -Sylvia
Nasar #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Beautiful Mind Captivating. . . . Part
biography part history of ideas the book provides a fascinating window into the ways thinking
on economic policy has evolved in the last 25 years. . . . A must-read for anyone seeking to
understand the current economic challenges we face. -Liaquat Ahamed Pulitzer Prize-winning
author of Lords of Finance An engrossing and deeply human chronicle of the past fifty years of
American economic and social upheaval viewed through the consequential life of the most
powerful woman in American economic history Janet Yellen and her unconventional partnership
in marriage and work with Nobel Laureate George Akerlof. At the dawn of the 21st century many
of America's leaders believed that free trade modern finance technology and wise government
policy had paved the way for a new era of prosperity. Then came a cascade of disasters-a
bursting tech bubble domestic terror attacks a housing market implosion a financial system
crisis a deadly global pandemic. These events led to serial recessions deepened America's
political fractures and widened the divide between those best off and everyone else.
Award-winning economics writer Jon Hilsenrath examines what happened viewing events through
the experiences of two historic figures: Janet Yellen was Treasury Secretary Federal Reserve
Chairwoman and Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Her husband George
Akerlof was an imaginative Nobel prize-winning economist. Long before the upheaval of the past
two decades Akerlof warned of flaws in modern economic thinking then Yellen had to fix the
economy on the fly as it cracked. In telling their story Hilsenrath explores long-running
intellectual battles over the fragile balance between unruly democratic government and
unpredictable markets. He introduces readers to the cast of modern intellectuals and policy
makers who deciphered shaped and steered these systems through prosperity chaos and
reformation. And he explains what went wrong why and what might happen next. What emerges is
an absorbing examination of how humans think and behave and how those actions shape markets
inform economic policy and could determine the future of a now-deeply divided nation.
Hilsenrath reminds us that economics is neither science nor ideology as some once wished or
promised. Economics is an endeavor. Most good love stories are too.
