World's Banker : A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations

Never has the World Bank’s relief work been more important than in the last nine years, when crises as huge as AIDS and the emergence of terrorist sanctuaries have threatened the prosperity of billions. This journalistic masterpiece by Washington Postcolumnist Sebastian Mallaby charts those controversial years at the Bank under the leadership of James Wolfensohn—the unstoppable power broker whose daring efforts to enlarge the planet’s wealth in an age of globalization and terror were matched only by the force of his polarizing personality. Based on unprecedented access to its subject, this captivating tour through the messy reality of global development is that rare triumph—an emblematic story through which a gifted author has channeled the spirit of the age.

Sebastian Mallaby, a Washington Post columnist since 1999, has written for the Economist, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, and the New Republic.