Francis Oakley continues his magisterial three-part history of the emergence of Western political thought during the Middle Ages with this second volume in the series. Here, Oakley explores kingship from the tenth century to the beginning of the fourteenth, showing how, under the stresses of religious and cultural development, kingship became an inceasingly secular institution. “A masterpiece and the central part of a trilogy that will be a true masterwork.”—Jeffrey Burton Russell, University of California, Santa Barbara

“A lucid and meticulously reported book by one of the Wall Street Journal’s ace reporters” (George Anders, Forbes contributor and author of The Rare Find). In 1938, the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt created a small agency called Fannie Mae. Intended to make home loans more accessible, the agency was born of the Great Depression and a government desperate to revive housing construction. It was a minor detail of the New Deal, barely recorded by the newspapers of the day. Over the next seventy years, Fannie Mae evolved into one of the largest financial companies in the world, owned by private shareholders but with its nearly $1 trillion of debt effectively guaranteed by the government. Almost from the beginning, critics repeatedly warned that Fannie was an accident waiting to happen. Then, in 2008, the housing market collapsed. Amid a wave of foreclosures, the company’s capital began to run out, and the US Treasury seized control. From the New Deal to President Obama’s administration, James R. Hagerty explains this fascinating but little-understood saga. Based on the author’s reporting for the Wall Street Journal, personal research, and interviews with executives, regulators, and congressional leaders, The Fateful History of Fannie Mae, he explains the politics, economics, and human frailties behind seven decades of missed opportunities to prevent a financial disaster.

The American government today supports a financial system based on mortgage lending, and it often bails out the financial institutions making these mortgages. The Dead Pledge reveals the surprising origins of American mortgages and American bailouts in policies dating back to the early twentieth century. Judge Glock shows that the federal government began subsidizing mortgages in order to help lagging sectors of the economy, such as farming and construction. In order to encourage mortgage lending, the government also extended unprecedented assistance to banks. During the Great Depression, the federal government made new mortgage lending and bank bailouts the centerpiece of its recovery program. Both the Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt administrations created semipublic financial institutions, such as Fannie Mae, to provide cheap, tradable mortgages, and they extended guarantees to more banks and financiers. Ultimately, Glock argues, the desire to protect the financial system took precedence over the desire to help lagging parts of the economy, and the government became ever more tied into the financial world. The Dead Pledge recasts twentieth-century economic, financial, and political history and demonstrates why the greatest “safety net” created in this era was the one supporting finance.

Why America's public-private mortgage giants threaten the world economy—and what to do about it The financial collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008 led to one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in history. The bailout has already cost American taxpayers close to $150 billion, and substantially more will be needed. The U.S. economy--and by extension, the global financial system--has a lot riding on Fannie and Freddie. They cannot fail, yet that is precisely what these mortgage giants are guaranteed to do. How can we limit the damage to our economy, and avoid making the same mistakes in the future? Guaranteed to Fail explains how poorly designed government guarantees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led to the debacle of mortgage finance in the United States, weighs different reform proposals, and provides sensible, practical recommendations. Despite repeated calls for tougher action, Washington has expanded the scope of its guarantees to Fannie and Freddie, fueling more and more housing and mortgages all across the economy--and putting all of us at risk. This book unravels the dizzyingly immense, highly interconnected businesses of Fannie and Freddie. It proposes a unique model of reform that emphasizes public-private partnership, one that can serve as a blueprint for better organizing and managing government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In doing so, Guaranteed to Fail strikes a cautionary note about excessive government intervention in markets.

Part economic history, part public history, A History of Mortgage Banking in the West is an insider’s account of how the mortgage banking sector worked over the last 150 years, including analysis of the causes of the 2007 mortgage crisis. Beginning with the land and railroad development acts that encouraged settlement in the west, E. Michael Rosser and Diane M. Sanders trace the laws, institutions, and individuals that contributed to the economic growth of the region. Using Colorado and the west as a case study for the nation’s economic and property development as a whole since the late nineteenth century, Rosser and Sanders explain how farm mortgages and agricultural lending steadily gave way to urban development and housing mortgages, all while the large mortgage and investment firms financed the development of some of the state’s most important water resources and railroad networks. Rosser uses his personal experience as a lifelong practitioner and educator of mortgage banking, along with a plethora of primary sources, academic archives, and industry publications, to analyze the causes of economic booms and busts as they relate to real estate and development. Rosser’s professional acumen combined with Sanders’s research experience makes A History of Mortgage Banking in the West a rich and nuanced account of the region’s most significant economic events. It will be an important work for scholars and practitioners in regional and financial history, mortgage market practice and development, government housing and mortgage policy, and financial stability and of great significance to anyone curious about the role of the federal government in national housing policy and the inherent risk in mortgages.

THE REAL STORY OF THE MELTDOWN THAT LED TO THE FINANCIAL CRISIS "Required reading” -- SeekingAlpha.com Many books have been written about the financial crisis and its causes, but none of them has been written by one of the key figures intimately involved in the drama. At last, one of those top insiders tells the complete story of the mortgage wars that almost destroyed the global economy. In this no-holds-barred account, Timothy Howard exposes the perfect storm of money, power, ideology, and politics that led to the crisis. Howard was the CFO of Fannie Mae until 2004. At its peak, Fannie Mae was responsible for more than one out of every four home loans in the United States. But by the mid-2000s, what seemed to be the most successful mortgage finance system in the world completely broke down. What happened? Howard takes you behind the scenes to show the dramatic struggles between the corporations and the politicians that led to the meltdown. In The Mortgage Wars, you'll learn: How Fannie Mae was born and evolved into the largest mortgage lender in the world How Fannie Mae survived the fi nancial turmoil that killed the thrift industry How the subprime market grew, with very little oversight, and eventually exploded How political and fi nancial jockeying sparked the mortgage wars What we must do to prevent a similar financial crisis from ever happening again At long last, this inside account tells the unvarnished truth about some of the most controversial subjects of our time, including the disturbing new norm of unsafe and unsound business practices in the finance world and the huge problems that arise when politicians try to pick winners in the global markets. The Mortgage Wars tells the real story for the first time, showing how an $11 trillion dollar industry really fights its battles, for better or worse. Timothy Howard also shares his insights on how to keep the mortgage fi nance system safe, offering invaluable, prescriptive advice for all of us as we move forward into an uncertain future. PRAISE FOR THE MORTGAGE WARS: “An essential contribution to understanding the roots of our most recent financial crisis, enriched by a deeper review of the history of American home financing." -- Kirkus Reviews “With great attention to detail, Howard charts business decisions over a five-decade span and leading up to the company's downfall." -- Publishers Weekly “Howard, with 20 years as a senior risk management executive, is in a unique position to examine the beginning of the mortgage wars and how they escalated and spun out of control, with disastrous results for the American homeowner. . . . For anyone wanting the ‘other side of the story’ and anyone who does not believe everything the media and politicians tell us.” -- Library Journal "A fascinating tale, well written by an insider, that shows forcefully how dangerous it can be to combine big politics with big money and big ambitions in a big hurry!" -- CHARLES D. ELLIS, author of the bestselling Winning the Loser's Game "In this fascinating and revealing book, one of the inside players in the struggle over the American home financing market tells the full story for the first time. Full of dramatic stories of partisan government and big business fighting to the finish, The Mortgage Wars is riveting--an essential read for anyone who wants to know how we can avoid another meltdown like the devastating financial crisis of 2008." -- JUNHENG LI, Founder and Head of Research, JL Warren Capital; author of Tiger Woman on Wall Street "Timothy Howard gives you the inside scoop on the battle for control of the U.S. mortgage market, a 'war' that was at the center of the global financial crisis. Understanding the fundamental cause of the crisis we are still recovering from is essential to avoid repeating past mistakes. I learned a lot from The Mortgage Wars and I highly recommend it." -- JENS NORDVIG, Head of Fixed Income Research Americas, Nomura Securities; author of The Fall of the Euro "Timothy Howard is the new rock star of fi nancial exposés. The Mortgage Wars reveals how Washington placed an $11 trillion dollar bet on the American dream and pushed our nation to the brink of economic collapse. Required reading for anyone with an interest in the capital markets." -- NORB VONNEGUT, author of The Trust.

A clear look at how to capture investment profits during difficult financial times The U.S. economy has become crippled by the credit and real estate catastrophe. Even though we've all been affected by the calamity and have heard no shortage of news about it, it still seems unfathomable and utterly incomprehensible to most people that the actions of certain mortgage brokers, bankers, ratings agencies, and investment banks could break the economic engine of the world. Now, for the first time, and in terms everyone can grasp, noted analysts and value investing experts Whitney Tilson and Glenn Tongue explain not only how it happened, but shows that the tsunami of credit problems isn't over. The second wave has yet to come. But if you know catastrophe is looming, you can sidestep the train wreck-and even profit. You just need to understand how bad times present opportunity and where to look. More Mortgage Meltdown can help you achieve this goal. The book Breaks down the complex mortgage products and rocket-science securities Wall Street created Addresses how to find investment opportunities within the rubble and position your portfolio to take advantage of the crisis Explains exactly how the combination of aggressive lending, government missteps, and Wall Street trading practices created the perfect economic storm Shows you why the crisis is not yet over and what we can expect going forward More Mortgage Meltdown can help you understand the events that have unfolded, and put you in a better position to profit from the opportunities that arise during these tough financial times.