Adam Tooze has crafted an outstanding examination of the 2008 financial crisis and what followed in its wake. His account captures the devastation that emerged during and after this catastrophic period. Structured in four sections, the work explores various dimensions of the 10-year span that succeeded the financial catastrophe.
Tooze demonstrates considerable skill in maintaining reader engagement throughout. Despite the abundance of data and statistics related to the monetary emergency, he succeeds in presenting the material in a way that general audiences can understand.
The collapse of Lehman Brothers in the United States marked the origin of the crisis, though as Tooze observes: “ To view the crisis of 2008 as basically an American event was tempting,” The turmoil ultimately engulfed the globe, with Europe and the Eurozone bearing particularly severe consequences around 2010 and 2011. The author distributes accountability across the political spectrum, though his perspective appears to lean toward moderate left-wing positions.
European nations faced distinct challenges, with Ireland, Spain, and notably Greece suffering acute economic distress. After European authorities implemented austerity programs in response to banking failures, Greece endured exceptional hardship. The prospect of providing financial assistance to Greece created considerable anxiety for other European nations, particularly Germany.
Furthermore, populist political movements gained traction globally, exemplified by Donald Trump’s ascendancy in America and the Brexit referendum in Britain. Tooze traces these developments back to the unstable financial conditions that resulted from the 2008 crisis. While he attempts to demonstrate connections between these phenomena under a financial framework, the degree to which they were truly interconnected remains debatable.
In his Trump chapter, Tooze characterizes the rise of what he views as a right-wing demagogue, though he provides limited discussion of any positive economic effects during that period.
Many observers regarded the 2008 crisis as the most severe instability since the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended well into the following decade. From 2008 through 2015, countless individuals experienced job loss and/or foreclosure. President Obama, who took office amid the crisis inherited from the Bush Administration, worked to mitigate its effects, yet the scale of the disruption meant that government action alone could not arrest the damage inflicted by failing financial institutions.
Tooze demonstrates considerable writing ability, and his treatment of the fiscal emergency contains extensive detail regarding the period of financial turmoil. Prior to encountering this work, I was unfamiliar with Tooze’s writing, but his work has convinced me to follow his future publications closely.
“Crashed” represents an outstanding work. Readers will emerge with substantial knowledge of financial matters. This book merits strong recommendation.
Bernie Kelly