America's Bank

The Epic Struggle to Create the Federal Reserve

By: Roger Lowenstein

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

A tour de force of historical reportage, America’s Bank illuminates the tumultuous era and remarkable personalities that spurred the unlikely birth of America’s modern central bank, the Federal Reserve. Today, the Fed is the bedrock of the financial landscape, yet the fight to create it was so protracted and divisive that it seems a small miracle that it was ever established.

For nearly a century, America, alone among developed nations, refused to consider any central or organizing agency in its financial system. Americans’ mistrust of big government and of big banks - a legacy of the country’s Jeffersonian, small-government traditions - was so widespread that modernizing reform was deemed impossible. Each bank was left to stand on its own, with no central reserve or lender of last resort. The real-world consequences of this chaotic and provincial system were frequent financial panics, bank runs, money shortages, and depressions.

By the first decade of the 20th century, it had become plain that the outmoded banking system was ill equipped to finance America’s burgeoning industry. But political will for reform was lacking. It took an economic meltdown, a high-level tour of Europe, and - improbably - a conspiratorial effort by vilified captains of Wall Street to overcome popular resistance. Finally, in 1913, Congress conceived a federalist and quintessentially American solution to the conflict that had divided bankers, farmers, populists, and ordinary Americans, and enacted the landmark Federal Reserve Act.

Roger Lowenstein - acclaimed financial journalist and best-selling author of When Genius Failed and The End of Wall Street - tells the drama-laden story of how America created the Federal Reserve, thereby taking its first steps onto the world stage as a global financial power. America’s Bank showcases Lowenstein at his very finest: Illuminating complex financial and political issues with striking clarity, infusing the debates of our past with all the gripping immediacy of today, and painting unforgettable portraits of Gilded Age bankers, presidents, and politicians.

Lowenstein focuses on the four men at the heart of the struggle to create the Federal Reserve. These were Paul Warburg, a refined, German-born financier, recently relocated to New York, who was horrified by the primitive condition of America’s finances; Rhode Island’s Nelson W. Aldrich, the reigning power broker in the US Senate and an archetypal Gilded Age legislator; Carter Glass, the ambitious, if then little-known, Virginia congressman who chaired the House Banking Committee at a crucial moment of political transition; and President Woodrow Wilson, the academician-turned-progressive-politician who forced Glass to reconcile his deep-seated differences with bankers and accept the principle (anathema to southern Democrats) of federal control. Weaving together a raucous era in American politics with a storied financial crisis and intrigue at the highest levels of Washington and Wall Street, Lowenstein brings the beginnings of one of the country’s most crucial institutions to vivid and unforgettable life.

Listeners of this gripping historical narrative will wonder whether they’re listening about 100 years ago or the still-seething conflicts that mark our discussions of banking and politics today. 

©2015 Roger Lowenstein (P)2015 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“As Roger Lowenstein tells it in America’s Bank, an illuminating history of the Fed’s unlikely origin story, the central bank represented an ambitious - and not entirely successful - effort to resolve several long-standing tensions that lay at the heart of the American experiment in self-government: East Coast vs. the interior, urban sensibilities vs. rural ones, mercantile vs. agrarian interests, Wall Street vs. Main Street. It is still working out the kinks.” (Washington Post)

“The fun of the book - and its enduring value - lies in the rich details about the cranks, pawns and prophets who jousted with one another in the days of Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft and Woodrow Wilson.” (Forbes)

“Roger Lowenstein tells, vividly and compellingly...the remarkable tale of the politics, disagreements, decisions and crises that culminated in the Federal Reserve Act.... But Lowenstein, the author of several works on economics and finance, builds off it to describe the history of the era, the rise of the Progressive movement, the compromises and machinations that were critical to Congressional passage and the key figures in the drama of creating the Federal Reserve System.” (Robert Rubin, New York Times Book Review)

Important and Intriguing

I heard Lowenstein on the New York Times book review podcast and it sounded interesting. I had just finished “Courage to Act” by Ben S. Bernanke and this book seem to fit right into the topic.

The book starts in 1787 and follows the topic of the need for a Federal Bank. Alexander Hamilton fought for a central bank but many opposed a strong federal government. Lowenstein goes into detail about President Wilson and his fight for the Federal Reserve and how they passed the “Federal Reserve Act of 1913.”

This is a story of politics, disagreements, decisions, including crises that culminated in the Federal Reserve Act. Lowenstein’s account of the financial crises before the establishment of the Fed powerfully demonstrates that it is imperative for the Federal Reserve System to maintain its effectiveness and independence from politics. The author gives us striking portraits of key figures well known and unknown, involved in the creation of the central bank.
The book is well written and well researched. The author writes in an engaging manner that makes dry material interesting.

There are currently a number of reforms being proposed in Congress that would undermine the effectiveness and independence of the Federal Reserve. This is a must read book to fully understand the history and all the issues involved, so one can understand the critical nature of the proposed changes to the Federal Reserve Act. Robertson Dean did a good job narrating the book. The book was not too long at nine and half hours.

Just technical and just popular enough

I think Roger Lowenstein has done us a great service with this sober telling of the story. This is one of those segments of history that is complex enough to allow its exploitation by all sorts of crackpots who cherry-pick the story, and until now it has been difficult to respond, due to the lack of a reasonably popular-level book walking through it all. I found the detail, length and editing just right. This book also features brief descriptions of various Fed operations that are understandable. By comparison, I read 'Act of Congress' by Robert G. Kaiser about the Dodd-Frank legislation, and found the latter plodding and not illuminating the personalities or deeper concepts or surrounding history nearly as well as this book does. This book clearly and briskly lights up important events from the Civil War to the 1930s, though it definitely focuses on the first 15 years of the 20th century. And at last Paul Warburg gets his due! I felt here as if I was at the side of many of the characters at their most critical moments, from the conception of the law through its emergence in all the shifting politics of the era. I am astounded that any reasonable legislation comes out of Congress at all, then or now, given the tugging personalities, but stepping back, that is often "a feature, not a bug." There is a fine portrayal of Woodrow Wilson also, and his times. I generally like Robertson Dean as a narrator, but here, I thought his style was a bit flat, meshing with this particular book. But it was certainly competent and acceptable.

The story of how a law was enacted 100 years ago

While the Federal Reserve system is undoubtedly important, the story of how it was enacted into law 100 years ago is a snoozer. The narrator is dry and slow and, when combined with a boring story, makes for an unsatisfactory listening experience. I fell for the ads in the Wall Street Journal promoting this book and it was a mistake to do so.

It works

Who was your favorite character and why?

There is no character you morons!!!!!!!!!!

What three words best describe Robertson Dean’s voice?

Boring, wish that Roger Lowenstein would have been the narrator

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Would make a dull movie

Any additional comments?

Good material, explained and presented well. Stressed the political motivations a little too much in my opinion

Overated book about the creation of the Fed

The book is way overrated. 1st off I don't find Lowenstein a great writer. - he's mediocre. If he were writing fiction his books wouldn't sell. 2nd- The book would have been better if it dealt with a complete history of the Fed, By spending all his time writing about the creation, he skipped many interesting histories of the Fed- i.e. - how did the Fed react to the great depression? - was it a cause? how about when Paul Volker raised interest rates to double digit levels - some rates were 18% if my memory serves me well. 3rd - why should I care about every little thing that happened with the politicians who created the Fed - who cares? it's like the old joke - "just show me the baby"-most folks don't want to hear about the labor pains. The book would have been better if he dealt with the arguments put forward by those who want to change or abolish the Fed.- i.e. - how has the Fed served the public past, present , and future.

A good account, but easy on the "epic"

A good account of a part of US and world financial history that I didn't know well. Good portraits of Aldridge, Warburg, Andrew, Davidson, Glass, Untermeier, Wilson. A little weaker on Strong and McAdoo, but then again they became more prominent later. Recommendable.

But easy on the Lowenstein-esque attempts at drama. This was a historic bill, no doubt, and there were odds against it, but exaggeration can become hard to bear.

Fascinating

What did you love best about America's Bank?

A riveting account of an important institution

What was one of the most memorable moments of America's Bank?

jeykell Island

Which character – as performed by Robertson Dean – was your favorite?

Warburg

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, too much information

Any additional comments?

The history of the Federal reserve shows that America is stilling having the arguments it had in the days of its founding. Nothing has changed.

Epic

An epic. Thing that can make history of banking law interesting and readable is pretty amazing.

Important Story for Americans to Know

Substance/Main Positives
This book is the story of why and how the Federal Reserve came to be. This story is an important one for Americans to have some familiarity with because it lays the groundwork for understanding why our banking system is structured the way it is today (February 2019). Probably not a "must read" because I suspect there are other equally good (or better) books on the topic, but certainly every American who has any interest in why banking is the way it is in America (or anyone who thinks they have a better idea for how it should be) ought to read this book or one that tells the same story.

Drawbacks
The reader is deep-voiced and seems to be forcing an ominous tone much of the time. I understand this may be by design to "go along" with the subject matter, but it just seemed somewhat overdone, and I am not sure the story is really all that ominous. The delivery should be more positive, because after all, the characters struggling "to create the Federal Reserve" (see sub-title) were all striving for legitimately positive reform of the banking system, though some characters went about it in a more conspiratorial way.

Conclusion/Author's Bias
Mr. Lowenstein's bias is not crystal clear to me (maybe that speaks well of his authorship), but the book does present the Federal Reserve as basically good and necessary for America to be the great nation it has been throughout the 20th century. I am not sure I can disagree with that.

Just wow!

This has the information of a textbook but reads like a novel. I could not put it down and was hooked from the first chapter. It was great hearing all the personality quirks and ambitions of America's elite 100 years ago and it helps better understand the history of our national psyche.