When first the housing market and then the bond market imploded in the late 2000s, the repercussions damaged not only Wall Street but the entire United States economy--as well as economies abroad. In After the Music Stopped, Princeton economics professor and Wall Street Journal columnist Alan S. Blinder explores the causes of the financial crises, along with the steps the federal government took to address the meltdown and the further work needed to prevent financial history from repeating itself with another catastrophic depression.
After the Music Stopped displays Blinder's thorough knowledge of his subject as well as of his audience. Readers with scant background in economics will have little trouble understanding Blinder's explanations of the causes of the financial crises or how the steps that have already been taken and the further steps he recommends apply to the situation. Blinder never hesitates to lay blame where it is due on both sides of the political divide, but neither is he stingy with praise--and he focuses on the complicated issues involved that are clearer in hindsight. After the Music Stopped is not only a comprehensible overview of the financial crisis but an enjoyable one as well. --Dani Alexis Ryskamp, blogger at The Book Cricket