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.

16 pages of photographs

本•伯南剋（Ben S. Bernanke）

前美國聯邦儲備委員會主席。2009年《時代》雜誌 “年度風雲人物”，連續三年入選福布斯全球人物權勢榜前十（2011~2013年），執掌美聯儲8年，成功帶領美國度過大蕭條以來最惡劣的經濟危機。

2002年被美國總統小布什任命為美聯儲理事。2005年6月，擔任美國總統經濟顧問委員會主席。10月被任命為下任美國聯邦儲備委員會主席。伯南剋是知名的宏觀經濟學傢，主要研究興趣是貨幣政策和宏觀經濟史。他是美國藝術與科學學院院士和計量經濟學會會士。曾編著《宏觀經濟學原理》、《微觀經濟學原理》等教材。 2014年2月，伯南剋加盟布魯金斯學會，參與經濟研究項目，重點關注經濟復蘇政策。