I read this book immediately after I finished Cooper's The Origin of Financial Crises which was highly recommended by the usually trustworthy Economist. For several reasons, Restoring Financial Stability (RFS) is the best book on the current crisis by a long ways. I am shocked that there is only one Amazon review so far. RFS is neither dumbed-down nor overly complex. Anyone who reads the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times will easily grasp the material covered and the language being used. The sources cited for the individual essays are predominately articles from academic journals but the authors of RFS do a nice job of summarizing the important points from these articles rather than assuming the reader is familiar with the sources. I am a history major and had no trouble following the authors.
You do not need to be interested in the solutions proposed in order to buy the book. The policy recommendations are brief and follow the much more important background information covering the causes and progression of the financial meltdown.
The book is especially worth reading because of its refreshing objectivity. It is not a political book or an anti-capitalism book. It tells the story of self-interested actors altering their behavior according to the incentives before them. The book focuses on these incentives and how they might be adjusted in order to achieve the same ends without the risk of harmful macroeconomic effects.
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