America’s Bank by Roger Lowenstein
This book covers the long history that lead up to the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
At the time the Fed was created there was great resistance to a central bank in the United States. There was a First and then a Second Bank Of The United States early in our history, but both banks were created for a limited time and then allowed to expire. After that the U.S. went without a central bank for many years. It took an incredible effort to come up with a system that would be accepted by the President, Congress, large and small bankers, and the general public. This book covers that struggle in detail.
To some extent the Fed remains controversial to this day. With our current crisis the Fed is back in the business of trying to keep the economy going using all of the tools at its disposal.