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Warren buffett: Investor and entrepreneur
By Todd Finkle. 2023
Warren Buffett is perhaps the most accomplished investor of all time. The CEO and chair of Berkshire Hathaway has earned…
admiration for not only his financial feats but also the philosophy behind them. Todd A. Finkle provides striking new insights into Buffett's career through the lens of entrepreneurship. This book demonstrates that although Buffett is thought of primarily as an investor, one of the secrets to his success has been running Berkshire as an entrepreneur. Finkle-a Buffett family friend-shares his perspective on Buffett's early life and business ventures. The book traces the entrepreneurial paths that shaped Buffett's career, from selling gum door-to-door during childhood to forming Berkshire Hathaway and developing it into a global conglomerate through the imaginative deployment of financial instruments and creative deal making. Finkle considers Buffett's investment methodology, management strategy, and personal philosophy on building a rewarding life in terms of entrepreneurship. He also zeroes in on Buffett's longtime business partner, Charlie Munger, and his contributions to Berkshire's success. Finkle draws key lessons from Buffett's mistakes as well as his successes, using these failures to explore the ways behavioral biases can affect investors and how to overcome themHollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence
By Ken Auletta. 2022
A vivid biography of Harvey Weinstein—how he rose to become a dominant figure in the film world, how he used…
that position to feed his monstrous sexual appetites, and how it all came crashing down, from the author who has covered the Hollywood and media power game for The New Yorker for three decadesTwenty years ago, Ken Auletta wrote an iconic New Yorker profile of the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was then at the height of his powers. The profile made waves for exposing how volatile, even violent, Weinstein was to his employees and collaborators. But there was a much darker story that was just out of reach: rumors had long swirled that Weinstein was a sexual predator. Auletta confronted Weinstein, who denied the claims. Since no one was willing to go on the record, Auletta and the magazine concluded they couldn&’t close the case. Years later, he was able to share his reporting notes and knowledge with Ronan Farrow; he cheered as Farrow, and Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, finally revealed the truth. Still, the story continued to nag him. The trail of assaults and cover-ups had been exposed, but the larger questions remained: What was at the root of Weinstein&’s monstrousness? How, and why, was it never checked? Why the silence? How does a man run the day-to-day operations of a company with hundreds of employees and revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and at the same time live a shadow life of sexual predation without ever being caught? How much is this a story about Harvey Weinstein, and how much is this a story about Hollywood and power? In pursuit of the answers, Auletta digs into Weinstein&’s life, searching for the mysteries beneath a film career unparalleled for its extraordinary talent and creative success, which combined with a personal brutality and viciousness to leave a trail of ruined lives in its wake. Hollywood Ending is more than a prosecutor&’s litany; it is an unflinching examination of Weinstein's life and career, embedding his crimes in the context of the movie business, in his failures and the successes that led to enormous power. Film stars, Miramax employees and board members, old friends and family, and even the person who knew him best—Harvey&’s brother, Bob—all talked to Auletta at length. Weinstein himself also responded to Auletta&’s questions from prison. The result is not simply the portrait of a predator but of the power that allowed Weinstein to operate with such impunity for so many years, the spiderweb in which his victims found themselves trapped.Maeve rising: Coming out trans in corporate america
By Maeve DuVally. 2023
When Maeve DuVally came out as a transgender woman while working as a corporate communications manager at Goldman Sachs, she…
knew she couldn't do it quietly. DuVally intimately documents her struggle to be herself in this environment, initially keeping her identity a secret with wardrobe changes in the lobby bathroom after work. Eventually she declares herself and, to her surprise, Goldman Sachs embraces the effort. Surgery follows. When DuVally finally takes those first steps on heels through the corridors of this institution on the way to her first meeting as a woman, the listener cheers. A New York Times story helped her realize she could become a role model for other transgender people and branded Goldman Sachs as a model for corporations assisting their transitioning employees. Before she found her courage, DuVally's life was mired in depression and unconscious struggle. Raised in an Irish Catholic family with a sadistic pathologist father, her upbringing dropped her into an adulthood plagued by alcoholism. At Goldman Sachs, she ascends to a top communications position before her drinking begins to encroach upon her work. Finally, DuVally hits bottom, becoming sober after a lifetime in and out of AA and rehab. Clear at last, she begins to understand the source of her lifelong struggle and takes the bold step to become the woman she is nowThe Cell Game: Sam Waksal's Fast Money and False Promises—and the Fate of ImClone's Cancer Drug
By Alex Prud'Homme. 2004
"It began with a promising cancer drug, the brainchild of a gifted researcher, and grew into an insider trading scandal…
that ensnared one of America's most successful women. The story of ImClone Systems and its "miracle" cancer drug, Erbitux, is the quintessential business saga of the late 1990s. It's the story of big money and cutting-edgescience, celebrity, greed, and slipshod business practices; the story of biotech hype and hope and every kind of excess.At the center of it all stands a single, enigmatic figure named Sam Waksal. A brilliant, mercurial, and desperate-to-be-liked entrepreneur, Waksal was addicted to the trappings of wealth and fame that accrued to a darling of the stock market and the overheated atmosphere of biotech IPOs. At the height of his stardom, Waksal hobnobbed with Martha Stewart in New York and Carl Icahn in the Hamptons, hosted parties at his fabulous art-filled loft, and was a fixture in the gossip columns. He promised that Erbitux would "change oncology," and would soon be making $1 billion a year.But as Waksal partied late into the night, desperate cancer patients languished, waiting for his drug to come to market. When the FDA withheld approval of Erbitux, the charming scientist who had always stayed just one step ahead of bankruptcy panicked and desperately tried to cash in his stock before the bad news hit Wall Street.Waksal is now in jail, the first of the Enron-era white-collar criminals to be sentenced. Yet his cancer drug has proved more durable than his evanescent profits. Erbitux remains promising, the leading example of a new way to fight cancer, and patients and investors hope it will be available soon.Recounting his three years in Korea, the highest-ranking non-Korean executive at Hyundai sheds light on a business culture very few…
Western journalists ever experience, in this revealing, moving, and hilarious memoir.When Frank Ahrens, a middle-aged bachelor and eighteen-year veteran at the Washington Post, fell in love with a diplomat, his life changed dramatically. Following his new bride to her first appointment in Seoul, South Korea, Frank traded the newsroom for a corporate suite, becoming director of global communications at Hyundai Motors. In a land whose population is 97 percent Korean, he was one of fewer than ten non-Koreans at a company headquarters of thousands of employees.For the next three years, Frank traveled to auto shows and press conferences around the world, pitching Hyundai to former colleagues while trying to navigate cultural differences at home and at work. While his appreciation for absurdity enabled him to laugh his way through many awkward encounters, his job began to take a toll on his marriage and family. Eventually he became a vice president—the highest-ranking non-Korean at Hyundai headquarters.Filled with unique insights and told in his engaging, humorous voice, Seoul Man sheds light on a culture few Westerners know, and is a delightfully funny and heartwarming adventure for anyone who has ever felt like a fish out of water—all of us.Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon
By Charles Slack. 2004
When J. P. Morgan called a meeting of New York's financial leaders after the stock market crash of 1907, Hetty…
Green was the only woman in the room. The Guinness Book of World Records memorialized her as the World's Greatest Miser, and, indeed, this unlikely robber baron -- who parlayed a comfortable inheritance into a fortune that was worth about 1.6 billion in today's dollars -- was frugal to a fault. But in an age when women weren't even allowed to vote, never mind concern themselves with interest rates, she lived by her own rules. In Hetty, Charles Slack reexamines her life and legacy, giving us, at long last, a splendidly "nuanced portrait" (Newsweek) of one of the greatest -- and most eccentric -- financiers in American history.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.The Witness Blanket: Truth, Art and Reconciliation
By Carey Newman, Kirstie Hudson. 2022
For more than 150 years, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and sent to residential schools across…
Canada. Artist Carey Newman created the Witness Blanket to make sure that history is never forgotten. The Blanket is a living work of art—a collection of hundreds of objects from those schools. It includes everything from photos, bricks, hockey skates, graduation certificates, dolls and piano keys to braids of hair. Behind every piece is a story. And behind every story is a residential school Survivor, including Carey's father. This book is a collection of truths about what happened at those schools, but it's also a beacon of hope and a step on the journey toward reconciliation.Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst: A True Story of Inside Information and Corruption in the Stock Market
By Jennifer Reingold, Dan Reingold. 2006
Here is the true story of a top Wall Street player's transformation from a straight-arrow believer to a jaded cynic,…
who reveals how Wall Street's insider game is really played.Dan Reingold was a top Wall Street analyst for fourteen years and Salomon Smith Barney analyst Jack Grubman's chief competitor in the red-hot sector of telecom. Reingold was part of the "Street" and believed in it.But in this action-packed, highly personal memoir written with accomplished Fast Company senior writer Jennifer Reingold the author describes how his enthusiasm gave way to disgust as he learned how deeply corrupted Wall Street and much of corporate America had become during the roaring stock market bubble of the 1990s.Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst provides a front-row seat at one of the most dramatic -- and ultimately tragic -- periods in financial history. Reingold recounts his introduction to the world of Wall Street leaks and secret deal-making; his experiences with corporate fraud; and Wall Street's alarming penchant for lavish spending and multimillion-dollar pay packages.Reingold spars with arch rival Grubman; fends off intense pressures from Wall Street bankers and corporate CEOs; and is wooed by Morgan Stanley's CEO, John Mack, and CSFB's über-banker Frank Quattrone.Reingold describes instances in which confidential deals are whispered days before their official announcement. He recalls the moment he learns that Bernie Ebbers's WorldCom was massively cooking its books. And he is shocked to have been an unwitting catalyst for a series of sexually explicit e-mails that would rock Wall Street; bring Jack Grubman to his knees; and contribute to the stepping aside of Grubman's boss, Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill.Some of Reingold's stories are outrageous, others hilarious, and many are simply absurd. But, together, they provide a sobering exposé of Wall Street: a jungle of greed and ego, a place brimming with conflicts and inside information, and a business absurdly out of touch with the Main Street it claims to serve.He shows how government investigators, headlines notwithstanding, never got to the heart of the ethical and legal transgressions of the era. And how they completely overlooked Wall Street's pervasive use of inside information, leaving investors -- even sophisticated professionals -- cheated. The book ends with a series of important policy recommendations to clean up the investing business.In the tradition of Liar's Poker and Den of Thieves, Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst is a no-holds-barred insider's account that will open the eyes of every investor.The remarkable story of Sumner Redstone, his family legacy, and the battles for all he controlled.Sumner Murray Redstone (1923–2020), who lived…
by the credo "content is king," leveraged his father’s chain of drive-in movie theaters into one of the world’s greatest media empires through a series of audacious takeovers designed to ensure his permanent control. Over the course of this meteoric rise, he made his share of enemies and feuded with nearly every member of his family.In The King of Content, Keach Hagey deconstructs Redstone’s rise from Boston’s West End through Harvard Law School to the highest echelons of American business. The ninety-seven-year-old mogul’s life became a tabloid soap opera, the center of acrimonious legal battles throughout his vast holdings, which included Paramount Pictures and two of the largest public media companies, Viacom and CBS. At the heart of these lawsuits was Redstone’s tumultuous love life and complicated relationship with his children. Redstone’s daughter, Shari, has emerged as his de facto successor, but only after she ousted his closest confidant in a fierce power struggle.Yet Redstone’s assets face an existential threat that goes beyond his family, disgruntled ex-girlfriends, or even the management of his companies: the changing nature of media consumption. As more and more people cut their cable cords, CBS, with its focus on sports and broadcast TV, has held steady, while Viacom, with its once-great cable channels like MTV and Nickelodeon, has suffered a precipitous fall. As their rivals merge, the question is whether Shari’s push to undo her father’s last big strategic maneuver and recombine CBS and Viacom will be enough to shore up their future.A biography and corporate whodunit filled with surprising details, The King of Content investigates Redstone’s impact on business and popular culture, as well as the family feuds, corporate battles, and questionable alliances that go back decades—all laid bare in this authoritative book.Meet Buffy Sainte-Marie (Scholastic Canada Biography)
By Elizabeth MacLeod. 2023
Meet Buffy Sainte-Marie, music legend, activist and teacher!Buffy Sainte-Marie is not exactly sure where or when she was born, but…
it was likely the Piapot Reserve in the Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. As a baby she was adopted out to a white family in the United States. But nothing would stop Buffy from connecting to her roots and sharing the power and the beauty of her heritage with the world.As a musician, Buffy’s songs have inspired three generations of fans, garnering international acclaim and many awards. She’s a peace activist, an advocate for Indigenous-focused education, and a tireless supporter of Indigenous rights.After an incredible career lasting more than 60 years, Buffy’s music and message are as uplifting and important today as they ever were. Now is the right time to introduce young readers to this fascinating change-maker, with this accessible, engaging book.The Scholastic Canada Biography series is an award-winning collection of titles focused on fascinating people who have shaped Canada’s past and present. Written by acclaimed non-fiction author Elizabeth MacLeod, each book also features comics-inspired illustrations by Mike Deas, which appeal to today’s readers and help bring the story to life.Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone
By Satya Nadella, Greg Shaw, Jill Tracie Nichols. 2017
“At the core, Hit Refresh, is about us humans and the unique quality we call empathy, which will become ever…
more valuable in a world where the torrent of technology will disrupt the status quo like never before.” – Satya Nadella from Hit Refresh“Satya has charted a course for making the most of the opportunities created by technology while also facing up to the hard questions.” – Bill Gates from the Foreword of Hit Refresh The New York Times bestseller Hit Refresh is about individual change, about the transformation happening inside of Microsoft and the technology that will soon impact all of our lives—the arrival of the most exciting and disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced: artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing. It’s about how people, organizations, and societies can and must transform and “hit refresh” in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. Microsoft’s CEO tells the inside story of the company’s continuing transformation, tracing his own personal journey from a childhood in India to leading some of the most significant technological changes in the digital era. Satya Nadella explores a fascinating childhood before immigrating to the U.S. and how he learned to lead along the way. He then shares his meditations as a sitting CEO—one who is mostly unknown following the brainy Bill Gates and energetic Steve Ballmer. He tells the inside story of how a company rediscovered its soul—transforming everything from culture to their fiercely competitive landscape and industry partnerships. As much a humanist as engineer and executive, Nadella concludes with his vision for the coming wave of technology and by exploring the potential impact to society and delivering call to action for world leaders. “Ideas excite me,” Nadella explains. “Empathy grounds and centers me.” Hit Refresh is a set of reflections, meditations, and recommendations presented as algorithms from a principled, deliberative leader searching for improvement—for himself, for a storied company, and for society.Andrew Carnegie and the Rise of Big Business
By Harold C. Livesay. 1997
The titles in the Library of American Biography Series make ideal supplements for American History Survey courses or other courses…
in American history where figures in history are explored. Paperback, brief, and inexpensive, each interpretative biography in this series focuses on a figure whose actions and ideas significantly influenced the course of American history and national life. At the same time, each biography relates the life of its subject to the broader themes and developments of the times.In Her Own Voice: A Woman's Rise to CEO: Overcoming Hurdles to Change the Face of Leadership
By Jennifer McCollum. 2023
Based on 25 years of research into the specific hurdles facing women in business, In Her Own Voice offers sage advice…
and empowerment for any woman striving to advance her career—and any organization ready to improve gender equity at every level.The world has awakened to the urgent need to focus on women&’s advancement—companies with gender-balanced leadership are far more likely to outperform their peers, and the evolving expectations of leadership align to women&’s natural strengths. Yet just 10 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs and less than 30 percent of senior leaders are women, and the pace of growth is shockingly slow, made worse by COVID-19 and its aftermath.What does it take for women to ascend to the highest levels of leadership? In Her Own Voice from Jennifer McCollum, CEO of Linkage, a global leadership development firm, sheds light on this timely topic. Backed by in-depth and enlightening research, this book examines the specific challenges women still face in the workplace. Whether we&’re contending with our own inner critic, being expected to prove our value time and again, or navigating the often-intimidating world of negotiating for ourselves, women today still have unique obstacles as we advance our careers—but they need not become roadblocks.In Her Own Voice outlines how readers can overcome these obstacles, with key competencies and action steps such as quieting your inner critic, discarding biases, building confidence, gaining clarity about the future, and more. Supported by data and infused with compelling real-life stories, it&’s a blueprint for helping readers identify, measure, and conquer what&’s holding women back at any stage of their careers.Health, Hope, and Healing for All: Toward More Equitable and Affordable Healthcare
By Eugene A. Woods. 2023
One of America&’s top healthcare leaders offers a prescription to fix an ailing and inequitable healthcare system In Health, Hope,…
and Healing for All, Eugene A. Woods, CEO of Advocate Health, one of the largest non-profit health systems in the nation, provides a riveting behind-the-scenes look at healthcare in the United States. By sharing his insights from three decades in healthcare administration, as well as his personal journey, readers gain a deeper understanding of the challenges facing healthcare systems and the impact on all of us. Woods sheds light on the inequities our communities face, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and presents actionable prescriptions to create a more equitable, just and accessible healthcare system. He tackles tough questions around the affordability of healthcare, rising drug prices, alarming clinical shortages and more. As a Black healthcare CEO, Woods shares his personal experiences with injustice and charts a path towards meaningful change. His optimistic outlook and passion for transformation and innovation inspire readers to believe in the power of unity and resilience in the face of adversity.Health, Hope, and Healing for All is a must-read for those working in healthcare, policymakers, and individuals seeking hope and answers in an uncertain healthcare landscape. Supported by Woods' expertise and credibility, the book presents real solutions to the current crisis and highlights the urgent need to ensure accessible, affordable and compassionate healthcare for every American.The Rebellious CEO: 12 Leaders Who Did It Right
By Ralph Nader. 2023
One of corporate America's greatest foes shows how 12 CEOs he has known uniquely rejected narrow yardsticks of shareholder value…
by leading companies to larger models of prosperity and justiceOver the course of 7 decades Ralph Nader has been Corporate America&’s fiercest critic. Supreme Court Justice William Powell singled out Nader in his infamous memo as the &“single most effective antagonist of American business… [the] target of his hatred… is corporate power.&”But now, in a book that will surprise both his fans and critics, Nader profiles a small group of CEOs who he believes performed extraordinarily well as business leaders and civic reformers, some well-known, some not, who should be celebrated as exceptions whose life and career should be a course of emulation and inspiration for students of business, executives and the wider citizenry. This select group of mavericks and iconoclasts — which includes The Body Shop&’s Anita Roddick, Patagonia&’s Yvon Chouinard, Vanguard&’s John Bogle and Busboys and Poets' Andy Shallal —give us, Nader writes, &“a sense of what might have been and what still could be if business were rigorously framed as a process that was not only about making money and selling things but improving our social and natural world.&”Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose Its Harmful Secrets
By Jeff Horwitz. 2023
By an award-winning technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, a behind-the-scenes look at the manipulative tactics Facebook used to grow…
its business, how it distorted the way we connect online, and the company insiders who found the courage to speak out"Broken Code fillets Facebook&’s strategic failures to address its part in the spread of disinformation, political fracturing and even genocide. The book is stuffed with eye-popping, sometimes Orwellian statistics and anecdotes that could have come only from the inside." —New York Times Book ReviewOnce the unrivaled titan of social media, Facebook held a singular place in culture and politics. Along with its sister platforms Instagram and WhatsApp, it was a daily destination for billions of users around the world. Inside and outside the company, Facebook extolled its products as bringing people closer together and giving them voice.But in the wake of the 2016 election, even some of the company&’s own senior executives came to consider those claims pollyannaish and simplistic. As a succession of scandals rocked Facebook, they—and the world—had to ask whether the company could control, or even understood, its own platforms.Facebook employees set to work in pursuit of answers. They discovered problems that ran far deeper than politics. Facebook was peddling and amplifying anger, looking the other way at human trafficking, enabling drug cartels and authoritarians, allowing VIP users to break the platform&’s supposedly inviolable rules. They even raised concerns about whether the product was safe for teens. Facebook was distorting behavior in ways no one inside or outside the company understood. Enduring personal trauma and professional setbacks, employees successfully identified the root causes of Facebook's viral harms and drew up concrete plans to address them. But the costs of fixing the platform—often measured in tenths of a percent of user engagement—were higher than Facebook's leadership was willing to pay. With their work consistently delayed, watered down, or stifled, those who best understood Facebook&’s damaging effect on users were left with a choice: to keep silent or go against their employer.Broken Code tells the story of these employees and their explosive discoveries. Expanding on &“The Facebook Files,&” his blockbuster, award-winning series for The Wall Street Journal, reporter Jeff Horwitz lays out in sobering detail not just the architecture of Facebook&’s failures, but what the company knew (and often disregarded) about its societal impact. In 2021, the company would rebrand itself Meta, promoting a techno-utopian wonderland. But as Broken Code shows, the problems spawned around the globe by social media can&’t be resolved by strapping on a headset.The Messy Truth: How I Sold My Business for Millions but Almost Lost Myself
By Alli Webb. 2023
Alli Webb, co-founder of Drybar, had it all--until she didn't.When Drybar and its world-famous blowouts took off seemingly overnight, she…
found herself surrounded by celebrity clients like Zooey Deschanel, Jennifer Garner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts, Maria Shriver, and others. She was named to multiple prestigious lists by Fast Company, Fortune, Marie Claire, and Inc. She published a New York Times bestselling book--all before she turned forty.But it wasn't until her marriage fell apart, her teenage son entered rehab unexpectedly, and she no longer found meaning in the wildly successful business she had built that Alli realized she was spiraling into deep depression. She'd lost sight of what made her happy in favor of an aimless push to succeed above all. Something had to give.Piece by piece, Alli began to reinvent her personal and professional life with the goal of accepting her messy truth. She learned how to embrace the honest in lieu of the perfect and realized that most of life happens somewhere in the middle, between the laughter and the tears.In The Messy Truth, Webb invites readers into her world as an entrepreneur, a mother, and a partner, examining with startling humor and wisdom the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we learn to embrace the mess of life.A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food
By Will Harris. 2023
"If I could have one wish it is that every eater in America would read this book." —Ruth ReichlFrom a…
pioneer of the regenerative agriculture movement, a memoir-meets-manifesto on betting the farm on a better future for our food, animals, land, local communities, and our climateRaised as a fourth-generation farmer, when Will Harris inherited White Oak Pastures he was a full-time commodity cowboy who played hard and fast with every tool the system offered – chemicals, antibiotics, steroids, and more. His ancestors had built a highly profitable, conventionally-run machine, but over time he found himself disgusted with the excess, cruelty, and smalltown devastation this system entailed. So he bet the farm on forging a different way of doing things. One that works with nature not against it, and bridges the quickly widening delta between consumers and their food. Armed with tenacity, conviction and an outsized tolerance for risk, Harris called his approach &“radical traditional&” and it made him the pioneer of regenerative agriculture long before the phrase existed.At once an intimate, multi-generational memoir and a microcosm of American agriculture at large, A BOLD RETURN TO GIVING A DAMN offers a pathway back to producing food the right way. At a time when food supply chains are straining, climate-induced catastrophes are playing havoc with harvests, and concern around who owns America&’s farmland are more prescient than ever, Will Harris urges us to consider where the food we eat really comes from, and to re-connect to the places and people who raise what we eat each day. With keen storytelling, a good dose of irreverence, and an unflinching willingness to speak truth to power, Harris shows us why it&’s never been more important to know your farmer than now.Featured in Food and Country directed by Laura Gabbert and Ruth ReichlThe accomplishments and initiatives, both social and economic, of Edward Watkin are almost too many to relate. Though generally known…
for his large-scale railway projects, becoming chairman of nine different British railway companies as well as developing railways in Canada, the USA, Greece, India and the Belgian Congo, he was also responsible for a stream of remarkable projects in the nineteenth century which helped shape people’s lives inside and outside Britain. As well as holding senior positions with the London and North Western Railway, the Worcester and Hereford Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, Watkin became president of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. He was also director of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railways, as well as the Athens–Piraeus Railway. Watkin was also the driving force in the creation of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway’s ‘London Extension’ – the Great Central Main Line down to Marylebone in London. This, though, was only one part of his great ambition to have a high-speed rail link from Manchester to Paris and ultimately to India. This, of course, involved the construction of a Channel tunnel. Work on this began on both sides of the Channel in 1880 but had to be abandoned due to the fear of invasion from the Continent. He also purchased an area of Wembley Park, serviced by an extension of his Metropolitan Railway. He developed the park into a pleasure and events destination for urban Londoners, which later became the site of Wembley Stadium. It was also the site of another of Watkin’s enterprises, the ‘Great Tower in London’ which was designed to be higher than the Eiffel Tower but was never completed. Little, though, is known about Watkin’s personal life, which is explored here through the surviving diaries he kept. The author, who is the chair of The Watkin Society, which aims to promote Watkin’s life and achievements, has delved into the mind of one of the nineteenth century’s outstanding individuals.Courage to Act: A Memoir Of A Crisis And Its Aftermath
By Ben S. Bernanke. 2016
From the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Economics A New York Times Bestseller “A fascinating account of the…
effort to save the world from another [Great Depression]. . . . Humanity should be grateful.”—Financial Times In 2006, Ben S. Bernanke was appointed chair of the Federal Reserve, the unexpected apex of a personal journey from small-town South Carolina to prestigious academic appointments and finally public service in Washington’s halls of power. There would be no time to celebrate. The bursting of a housing bubble in 2007 exposed the hidden vulnerabilities of the global financial system, bringing it to the brink of meltdown. From the implosion of the investment bank Bear Stearns to the unprecedented bailout of insurance giant AIG, efforts to arrest the financial contagion consumed Bernanke and his team at the Fed. Around the clock, they fought the crisis with every tool at their disposal to keep the United States and world economies afloat. Working with two U.S. presidents, and under fire from a fractious Congress and a public incensed by behavior on Wall Street, the Fed—alongside colleagues in the Treasury Department—successfully stabilized a teetering financial system. With creativity and decisiveness, they prevented an economic collapse of unimaginable scale and went on to craft the unorthodox programs that would help revive the U.S. economy and become the model for other countries. Rich with detail of the decision-making process in Washington and indelible portraits of the major players, The Courage to Act recounts and explains the worst financial crisis and economic slump in America since the Great Depression, providing an insider’s account of the policy response.