Shutdown

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

When the news first began to trickle out of China about a new virus in December 2019, risk-averse financial markets were alert to its potential for disruption. Yet they could never have predicted the total economic collapse that would follow in Covid-19's wake, as stock markets fell faster and harder than at any time since 1929, currencies across the world plunged, investors panicked and even gold was sold off.

In a matter of weeks, the world's economy was brought to an abrupt halt by governments trying to contain a spiralling public health catastrophe. Flights were grounded; supply chains broken; industries from tourism to oil to hospitality collapsed overnight, leaving hundreds of millions of people unemployed. Central banks responded with unprecedented interventions, just to keep their economies on life-support. For the first time since the Second World War, the entire global economic system contracted.

This book tells the story of that shutdown. We do not yet know how this story ends, or what new world we will find on the other side. In this fast-paced, compelling and at times shocking analysis, Adam Tooze surveys the wreckage, and looks at where we might be headed next.

© Adam Tooze 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Critics Review

  • A complex story, which Tooze tells with clarity and verve… The world is unlikely to be treated to a better account of the economics of the pandemic.

    The Times

  • Shutdown is a seriously impressive book, both endlessly quotable and rigorously analytical. Tooze synthesises a huge volume of information to argue that we must prepare for a new wave of crises or risk being sunk by them. Hopefully, governments everywhere will heed his warning.

    The Guardian

  • Mr Tooze displays a remarkable ability to master the detail … This is truly a picture of the global impact of the crisis; it covers the disruption in the financial markets, as well as the ins and outs of government policy.

    The Economist

  • Fascinating, informative and wise.

    Times Literary Supplement

  • An admirable work of synthesis and original analysis from the pre-eminent diagnostician of our age of discontents.

    New Statesman

  • What sets [Shutdown] apart is Tooze’s ability to keep his eye on the big picture – and the long view … There will be plenty more books to come on the global economy of 2020. Few will be as timely, as wide-ranging or as clear as Shutdown.

    Prospect

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