Shocks, Crises, and False Alarms: How to Assess True Macroeconomic Risk (Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak and Paul Swartz)

Recessions and financial crises can dramatically impact businesses of all sizes. In Shocks, Crises, and False Alarms: How to Assess True Macroeconomic Risk, economists Philipp Carlssonn-Szlezak and Paul Swartz advocate for a broader understand of economics that is strategic and not reactionary.

The authors provide insight into different types of events, such as how they are caused and how to handle them (like understanding that recessions can be caused by bad policy, such as tariffs that turned a bad recession into the Great Depression in 1930 or by an external shock of some sort, like Covid-19). The authors believe that it's important to focus on cause and how businesses and the government react. A large chunk of the book dives into inflation and examining how higher interest rates can impact debt (but also that not all inflation is created equal, especially if the economy grows and additional wealth is created).

Bubbles -- such as real estate and even cryptocurrency -- get coverage as well. The authors provide some healthy insight into how to manage business growth and make decisions about it without getting, in the words of Alan Greenspan, too "irrationally exuberant." For many businesses that are in a "profit now, win now, grow now" mode, being strategic about understanding risk and growth will be a hard challenge and mindset to get into. However, developing an understanding of how economies grow and contract and how rates can impact business is critical in making sound financial decisions. Shocks, Crises, and False Alarms offers a sound instruction into the market and finance in general.

MY RATING: 4.5 

The Shooter at Midnight: Murder, Corruption, and a Farming Town Divided (Sean Patrick Cooper)

Sean Patrick Cooper's debut, The Shooter at Midnight: Murder, Corruption, and a Farming Town Divided, details the murder of Cathy Robertson in rural Missouri in 1990. This murder resulted in the wrongful conviction of Robertson's neighbor, Mark Woodworth, and a nearly 20-year ordeal to see his conviction overturned.

Cooper, a journalist and essayist by trade, writes a detailed account of rural America in the 1980's and early 1990's, how the farm crisis helped sow distrust between families, and how the criminal justice system was broken in determining who murdered Robertson. The book effectively weaves through all these narratives to paint a story of a town that became divided in loyalty between families, how and why the justice system failed both the murder victim and the wrongfully convicted, and how those in positions of power exploited the case to their benefit.

This book has moments where it reads quickly and powerfully; however, in some spaces, the details can be overburdened and stretched out like a piece in the New Yorker (and less a true crime book). To that point, Cooper wrote a longform piece in Atavist detailing Robertson's murder several years prior to this book. That said, The Shooter at Midnight is a very good account of rural America in the 1980's and 1990's and how politics, family drama, and an economic crisis all came together in a case that's still not officially solved.

MY RATING: 4.5 

Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City (Dennis Romano)

As one of the world's UNESCO heritage sites for its combination of preservation and architecture, Venice is a city that is visited and studied by many. Dennis Romano's exhaustive history of the city is captured in the aptly titled Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City.

Venice is protected by barrier islands in the northern Adriatic Sea, making it a near ideal location to develop as a naval seaport. With vast quantities of salt nearby, the city-state developed in power over several centuries and became one of the world's leading centers of trade. Romano discusses the rise of Venice, its status as a leading Italian city-state, and its gradual evolution into a tourist mecca. References to tourist visits compared to the city's population help show its growing tourist vibe. Romano also highlights the city's struggles with its evolution into tourism, with climate change, and with demography at large as it grapples to maintain its population and address immigration. 

Romano's sourcing is top-notch, and he keeps the book interesting despite its length (over 600 pages). Venice is suited for those with an interest in Italian and European history, as well as in learning how cities evolve over centuries.

MY RATING: 4.5