Crashed

How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

By: Adam Tooze

Narrated by: Simon Vance, Adam Tooze

Length: 25 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize

A New York Times Notable Book of 2018

One of The Economist's Books of the Year

A New York Times Critics' Top Book

"An intelligent explanation of the mechanisms that produced the crisis and the response to it... One of the great strengths of Tooze's book is to demonstrate the deeply intertwined nature of the European and American financial systems." (The New York Times Book Review)

From a prizewinning economic historian, an eye-opening reinterpretation of the 2008 economic crisis (and its ten-year aftermath) as a global event that directly led to the shock waves being felt around the world today.

We live in a world where dramatic shifts in the domestic and global economy command the headlines, from rollbacks in US banking regulations to tariffs that may ignite international trade wars. But current events have deep roots, and the key to navigating today’s roiling policies lies in the events that started it all — the 2008 economic crisis and its aftermath. Despite initial attempts to downplay the crisis as a local incident, what happened on Wall Street beginning in 2008 was, in fact, a dramatic caesura of global significance that spiraled around the world, from the financial markets of the UK and Europe to the factories and dockyards of Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, forcing a rearrangement of global governance.

With a historian’s eye for detail, connection, and consequence, Adam Tooze brings the story right up to today’s negotiations, actions, and threats — a much-needed perspective on a global catastrophe and its long-term consequences.

©2018 Adam Tooze (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"There have been hundreds of illuminating books on the great financial collapse. Crashed, written to mark its tenth anniversary, will stand for a long time as the authoritative account. In his masterful narrative, the economic historian Adam Tooze achieves several things that no other single author has quite accomplished. Tooze has managed to explain a hugely complex global crisis in its multiple dimensions, and his book combines cogent analysis with a fascinating history of the political and economic particulars." (The New York Review of Books)

"An intelligent explanation of the mechanisms that produced the crisis and the response to it.... One of the great strengths of Tooze's book is to demonstrate the deeply intertwined nature of the European and American financial systems." (The New York Times Book Review)

"An impressive narrative history, weaving together events from around the world with a light touch and a great deal of helpful explanation. Sometimes it feels like Tooze has read every official working paper, memoir and substantive news article on macroeconomics and finance over the past decade. Even for readers who have attempted to follow the twists and turns of events, Tooze adds significant value." (The Washington Post)

Great history but misunderstands capitalism

Capitalism is understood by the author to be the centrally-planned-by-monetarists economy that we have now, portraying past asset-inflating, socio-economic-divide-widening central bankers as heroes. A sharp deflation instead (what would have resulted in true free market capitalism) would have solved much of the political economy and international relations issues identified by the author. Pain postponed is pain multiplied in this instance, it’s only a matter of time.

Detailed, thoughtful, and thought provoking

Tooze's introduction really sets the stage for this book - a decade on, it is still difficult to fully understand exactly what happened, why, and what it all means. This book is a very solid analysis of the interlinking of bank balance sheets across geographical boarders and the interrelationship (and common cause) of the US and EU financial crises of around 2008-2010. The ending is a little weak in the sense that it leaves the reader unsure of what comes next, although this is honest. More time could have been spent on assessing the capacity of macroprudentialism to avert these kinds of crises. Ultimately, there is a layer of this analysis that is inescapably Austrian - the crisis set in place a number of disaster scenarios that sought to avoid doom loops (sometimes failing and sometimes succeeding) but could really only have been effectively managed via prevention, which would have at some level involved the situation that allowed EU demand for USD to drive unsound lending practices in the US housing market. In that sense, the timing for this book is really good, in that, even with all the issues with hard Austrian thinking, the biggest problem with Austrianism is that no one is willing to be Mises during a boom. Which, given the fact that the boom of last year in the US market is so patently artificially ginned up by governmental intervention, seems again, very appropriate right now. The other thing that I think is lacking is an analysis not just of debt-to-GDP (both in the national debt sense and in the total public and private debt sense) but also debt-to-assets and how it plays a role in all of this. Piketty and others show that national debt-to-assets is close to zero for most developed nations, but while the US remains very indebted, it also has a very large stock of private assets (so that our stock remains many years of GDP, 7+ I think). Overall, this is a book everyone should listen to, and along with other titles that explain the rise of the modern money system and modern international finance, it's important for us all to understand at least some of how all this works and not leave it in the hands purely of either bureaucrats nor economists, and certainly not in the hands of politicians.

I liked Tooze's voice but the narrator (who sounds kind of like Rumple in Once) is very good. The narration quality is professional and it is well produced to be listened to in a car during a commute or other noisier environments.

Profound & mind-expanding economics tour de force

Buckle your seat belt and open your mind~ Tooze explores a panoply of the social, political and economic dimensions of contemporary and historic economic crises. I found many of my foundational perspectives and worldviews both expanded and challenged, and was astounded by Tooze's ability to effectively communicate multiple perspectives on key emerging events along the timeline of multiple-interrelated economic crises around the world. In an age of rapidly evolving globalism, he rightly, I believe, conveys the urgency of vigorous exploration of these interrelations in our efforts to understand and steer our economic and political institutions and policies. ~A fascinating and deeply enriching exploration~

super reader

comprehensive and yet moving along with a constant search for causes and connections. the author cautions us to avoid a fuzzy, imprecise summary of harrowing events and decisions.

An indispensable read

I would have preferred that the reading relied less on acronyms, but I feel vastly enlightened by this terrifying book.

Superior

Superior discussion of the 2007-08 financial crisis and the following global and regional financial and political crises that followed in its wake.

Another great book by Adam Tooze!

I enjoyed this book almost as much as The Deluge. But when will wages of destruction be available on audible?

Brilliant

Amazing achievement. The definitive account of almost everything that let us into the 2008 financial crisis, the Eurozone crisis, the Brexit crisis, and everything that has happened in the decade since. Tooze doesn't simplify and it's not an easy read / listen, but you will learn more and you ever knew there were things to learn about how the modern world works.

All books by Adam Tooze are excellent

Adam Tooze is able to clearly unravel the most complex political and economic issues so even a layman can understand.

Excellent history of the financial crisis

Fabulous history of the financial crisis and its contribution to the modern political crisis in the US and elsewhere. Great narration.