When the first rumblings of the coming financial crisis were heard in august 2007, three men who were never elected to public office suddenly became the most powerful men in the world. They were the leaders of the world s three most important central banks: ben bernanke of the u. S. Federal reserve, mervyn king of the bank of england, and jean-claude trichet of the european central bank. Over the next five years, they and their fellow central bankers deployed trillions of dollars, pounds and euros to try and contain the waves of panic that threatened to bring down the global financial system. Neil irwin s the alchemists is both a gripping account of the most intense exercise in economic crisis management we ve ever seen, and an insightful examination of the role and power of the central bank.