An Extraordinary Time

A smoothly written account of the U.S. and the world economy during the 1970s and parts of the 1980s … Mr. Levinson is a smart enough author not to be tempted into some breathless mono-causal account of either the earlier “boom” or the later slowdown. * Wall Street Journal *
An efficiently presented chronology of the global economy since the end of World War II … Weaving together data and narrative, [Levinson] shows how productivity growth foundered and the irritant of inflation appeared and would not leave. – Best Books of 2017 * strategy+business *
Provocative … Levinson reminds us how mesmerizing the post-World War II boom was. * Washington Post *
A valuable antidote to all passionately held economic ideologies. – Paul Collier * Times Literary Supplement *
Levinson, an economist and ex-journalist … has the virtues of both — an eye for detail and an understanding of the broader picture. – Best Economics Books of 2016 * Washington Post *
Levinson’s account of this vexed era is lucid, well-paced, and entwined with vivid sketches of economists, central bankers, and politicians who failed to restore the pre-1973 good times. He also succeeds at translating complex economic issues into understandable terms for lay readers. Levinson’s admirably evenhanded treatment of recent economic history steers clear of dogmas on both left and right to explore knottier truths. * Publishers Weekly *
In An Extraordinary Time, economist and journalist Marc Levinson says the good times are over for good, or at least for the foreseeable future … Levinson holds a doctorate in economics, but he has a journalist’s appreciation for the power of on-the-ground observation. * Bloomberg Businessweek *
Helpful, clear, and highly-readable. * Fast Company *
Marc Levinson provides a well written narrative of the descent from the golden age into what has become the new ordinary … [He offers] useful and balanced treatments of privatization, of job growth under Reagan and Clinton, of monetary experiments, and an excellent discussion of the barely avoided financial crisis of the early 1980s, which resulted from private sector bank loans to sovereigns in the developing world. If you are old enough to have lived through the golden age and the subsequent slowdown this will to some extent be a trip down memory lane. If you are younger, the book provides a welcome introduction to very important chapters in twentieth century economic history. * EH *
[Levinson’s] view is absolutely worth heeding in these days of unprecedented worldwide financial experimentation … A cogently argued account that lays bare the similarities and differences between the world today and earlier theoretical shortcomings. * Kirkus Reviews *

Marc Levinson is an economist, historian and journalist who writes for publications including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Foreign Affairs. He was previously Senior Fellow for International Business at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Finance and Economics Editor at The Economist. His books include The Box, which was shortlisted for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, and The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the best business books of 2011. Levinson holds a master’s degree from Princeton University and a doctorate from the City University of New York.

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