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Ahamed wins

30.10.09 | Katie Allen

Liaquat Ahamed has won the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2009 for his title about the Great Depression and the central bankers caught up in it; Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World is published by William Heinemann.

Ahamed received the £30,000 prize at a ceremony last night (29th October).

Lionel Barber, editor of the FT, said: "[It is] a brilliant book, which brings to life the 1920s and the role of its great public servants in trying, but ultimately failing, to manage the world financial system. A must for anyone who wants to understand economics."

Keynote speaker, Lord Mandelson, UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, said: "The prize celebrates books that are not just about running a business but are also about the social, political, and even ethical landscape in which business is done. This is the business that I deal with as a Minister, and which shapes our economy."

Each of the shortlisted authors also received £5,000.

The shortlist in full:

Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism by George A Akerlof & Robert J Shiller (Princeton University Press)

Good Value: Reflections on Money, Morality and an Uncertain World by Stephen Green (Allen Lane UK, Grove/Atlantic USA)

Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century by Nandan Nilekani (Allen Lane UK, The Penguin Press USA)

In Fed We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic by David Wessel (Crown Business)

Lords of Finance: The Bankers who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed (William Heineman/Random House UK, The Penguin Press USA)

The Match King: Ivar Kreuger and the Financial Scandal of the Century by Frank Partnoy (Profile Books UK, Public Affairs USA)
 

• Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year
• Katie Allen
• Prizes