Henry M. Paulson

The Secretary of the Treasury during the final years of George W. Bush's presidency presents his side of the economic collapse that occurred in the waning days of his watch over America's banking system.

Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System

On the Brink

When Hank Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, was appointed in 2006 to become the nation's next Secretary of the Treasury, he knew that his move from Wall Street to Washington would be daunting and challenging. But Paulson had no idea that a year later, he would find himself at the very epicenter of the world's most cataclysmic financial crisis since the Great Depression. Major institutions including Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup, among others-all steeped in rich, longstanding tradition-literally teetered at the edge of collapse. Panic ensnared international markets. Worst of all, the credit crisis spread to all parts of the U.S. economy and grew more ominous with each passing day, destroying jobs across America and undermining the financial security millions of families had spent their lifetimes building. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime economic nightmare. Events no one had thought possible were happening in quick succession, and people all over the globe were terrified that the continuing downward spiral would bring unprecedented chaos. All eyes turned to the United States Treasury Secretary to avert the disaster. This, then, is Hank Paulson's first-person account. From the man who was in the very middle of this perfect economic storm, ON THE BRINK is Paulson's fast-paced retelling of the key decisions that had to be made with lightning speed. Paulson puts the reader in the room for all the intense moments as he addressed urgent market conditions, weighed critical decisions, and debated policy and economic considerations with of all the notable players-including the CEOs of top Wall Street firms as well as Ben Bernanke, Timothy Geithner, Sheila Bair, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, and then-President George W. Bush. More than an account about numbers and credit risks gone bad, ON THE BRINK is an extraordinary story about people and politics-all brought together during the world's impending financial Armageddon.

Rui Zhi Dong

Gustavo Saiani

Hank Paulson served as US Treasury Secretary between July 2006 and Jan 2009. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. He holds an MBA from Harvard. In 2008, Time magazine named Paulson as a runner-up for Person of the Year, saying, with reference to the global financial crisis 'if there is a face to this financial debacle, it is now his' Opinion will certainly be divided on Paulson, but he was without doubt at the absolute epicentre of the economic storm, and his view will make for absolutely fascinating reading. The book contains all the decisive moments in the economic crisis, including the pivotal meetings with mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as Paulson's first telephone conversations with Senators Sarah Palin and Barack Obama.

On the Brink Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System

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