Hall of Mirrors
The Great Depression, The Great Recession, and the Uses-and Misuses-of History
Barry Eichengreen
Reviews and Awards
Shortlisted for the 2016 Lionel Gelber Prize
"This is undoubtedly one of the best books on the history of economic policy-making to be published in the last half century... clear, compelling account of the Great Depression and the Great Recession." - Professor Brad Bratley Bateman (Randolph College), HETP Vol.2
"one of the most clear-sighted of commentators in recent years. He brings all his insights together in Hall of Mirrors" - Ben Chu, Books of the Year 2015, Independent
"Hall of Mirrors is both a major work of economic history and an essential exploration of how we avoided making only some of the same mistakes twice. It shows not just how the "lessons" of Great Depression history continue to shape society's response to contemporary economic problems, but also how the experience of the Great Recession will permanently change how we think about the Great Depression." - Crisis Observatory
"This book is a joy; for a book gf serious economics, it sings" - Financial World, Andrew Hilton
"entertaining" - Capital, Christian Schütte
"educational... well researched and well written" - Mortgage Strategy
"his version of the 1930s is rich with detail and myth-busting insights." - Economist
"As a leading scholar of the Great Depression and one of the deftest commentators on the current crisis, Eichengreen is perfectly placed to compare the two slumps. The book is rich with anecdotes including portraits of the financiers who twice helped to bring the US banking system to its knees that make it highly readable...impressive work. Hall of Mirrors is destined to change the way we think about both the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Commentators and scholars will debate its thesis for many years to come." - Financial Times, Ferdinando Giugliano
"Hall of Mirrors is destined to change the way we think about both the Great Depression and the Great Recession. Commentators and scholars will debate its thesis for many years to come." - Ferdinando Giugliano, Financial Times
"Eichengreen mines his material for lessons learned and lost a worthy and distinctive addition to the literature on the crash." - Wall Street Journal
"Eichengreen recreates the last century's two great episodes of financial instability with compelling portraits of bankers and policymakers and accessible theoretical explanations . . . his version of the 1930s is rich with detail and myth-busting insights." - The EconomistR
"[Barry Eichengreen] does, however, provide the clearest, best developed history of the economics of the paroxysmal asset-value crashes of 1929-30 and the Great Depression, long thought to be among the sequelae of the First World War and the toxic seeds of the Second. His new book strengthens this argument and clirigies the mechanisms of generation and connection. This is its principal relevance to military history." - William D. O'Neil, Michigan War Study Review
