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Tower of Basel: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World Paperback – June 3, 2014

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4.5 out of 5 stars 74 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 360 pages
  • Publisher: PublicAffairs; First Trade Paper Edition edition (June 3, 2014)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1610393813
  • ISBN-13: 978-1610393812
  • Product Dimensions: 1 x 5 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (74 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 starsAuthor cautiously chooses to avoid the obvious
By pyeguy on October 29, 2013
Format: Hardcover
After reading this book cover to cover, I find it valuable merely as an introduction to the BIS, which is barely written or spoken about in the financial press or with regard to monetary history in textbooks.

However, the author's myriad references to a seeming 'brotherhood' of elites, coupled with only a cursory review of the personalities of founding bankers Montagu Norman, Hjalmar Schacht, Per Jacobsson and others, beg the question over the existence of deeper secretive issues regarding the BIS that the author presumably prefers to avoid.

I.E. The book leaves the reader wondering 'just to whom -- or *what* -- is the ultimate loyalty of the actors surrounding the BIS owed?' The author leaves this core issue inconveniently unexplored. In this day of increasing transparency regarding the existence of secret societies and their overt influences over global political and economic affairs, it is not enough for this author to just claim that technocrats practice fidelity to their own professional class...and that alone. Exploring more esoteric subject matter within this book wouldn't have been outside the confines of sober academic inquiry, especially considering the wider stakes involved.

The perennial sense of 'alchemy' practiced by the higher-up bank(st)ers such as those who confer regularly in the unaccountable meetings of the BIS clearly has very longterm goals. Hence why the BIS manages to stick around despite what the author lists as various functions reaching obsolescence. Thus, the 'friendships' bonding the likes of Norman & Schacht then, or Bernanke & King now, extend deeper than what this book's prose allows for, which ultimately serves to the detriment of illuminating (pun intended) its subject matter.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAn Amazing Story
By TopCat19 on June 16, 2013
Format: Hardcover
This book is a must-read if you are interested in money and banking, and it probably should be read by everyone. Even though I consider myself reasonably well-informed when it comes to money, banking, investments, economics, etc., I had no more than a vague awareness of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). This book is a real eye-opener. After all they did, it is amazing that it was not demolished after WWII (but that is part of the story, of course). It is certainly not a feel-good summer beach read, but it is interesting, and I think it tells an important story. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtains at the BIS, move along, nothing to see here...
This is a jaw-dropping story, and after decades of doing a lot of reading, I don't say that about many books. And just for the record, I'm not a shill for the author or anyone else, I was not aware of the author before reading this book. Interesting, informative, and more than a bit disturbing. I highly recommend it.
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5.0 out of 5 starsHow Did A Secret Bank With 0nly 140 customers Make $1.17 Billion Tax Free in 2011?
By James R. Holland VINE VOICE on May 21, 2013
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Not only is this Secret Bank exempt from the taxes and oversight of any nation in the world, but also has been that way since it was founded in 1930. This is the inside story of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) which is based in Basel Switzerland but does not answer to Swiss authorities or anyone else. It is the world's Central Bankers own bank.

Learning about this super secret Super Bank will add much credence to the conspiracy theory of the bankers trying to create a New World Order. It's like a shadow world government that is so powerful and useful that no nation in the world is willing to try and control or shine the spot light into its dark recesses.

The world's most exclusive and powerful club has only eighteen members most of whom are men. The power and influence they exercise is almost unbelievable. It is said the Nazi's didn't invade Switzerland because they didn't want to cut off their access to this institution, which is where they shipped much of the wealth they striped from the nations they invaded.

The book contains an introduction and sixteen information packed chapters contained in three major sections. Those chapters are titled "The Bankers Know Best, A Cozy Club in Basel, Hitler's American Banker, An Arrangement with the Enemy, The German Phoenix Arises, The Rise of the Desk-Murders, The Tower Arises, The Second Tower, The All-Seeing Eye, (despite the familiar sounding names this is not "Lord of the Rings") and the Citadel Cracks."

"The Tower of Basel reaches only eighteen stories above the city skyline, but the fate of the biblical tower-builders should give the bankers pause. For When God saw their work, he confounded their speech and introduced a multitude of tongues. The builders could no longer understand one another.Read more ›
2 Comments 54 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
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3.0 out of 5 starsWhat is the BIS for?
By Jas. Murphy on October 29, 2013
Format: Hardcover
The creation of international and intergovernmental institutions in the 20th Century and their accountability is a fruitful area for research, and the Bank for International Settlements is one of the most opaque of these. Throw in some Nazis and you have the makings of a really interesting story, which this book tells, at least partially. The BIS survives as a relic, though hardly an ossified one, of another era, continually re-inventing itself, seeking ways to be relevant, and providing a strictly unaccountable venue for the clubbable appointed to run the international financial "system" to gather. One wonders: what is the BIS for? And, who is it for?

The context should not be lost: in the great clash of ideologies and the struggle for dominance, mechanisms to ensure international financial stability emerged for the convenience of governments, corporations, and financial institutions. At the core of the BIS story and many others about the creation of global governance organizations is the driving ideology of a few elites for whom transparency and accountability matter little, nor, apparently, ideology. In the world of global finance, the inconvenience of having served a total war machine is immaterial to your clubbability, as LeBor shows.

The violent decades of financial and political turmoil preceding WWII certainly must have conditioned the thinking of these elites in their search for predictability and minimization of risk.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Interesting historical read.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A great read on the central bank of central banks.

Published 2 months ago by M
5.0 out of 5 starsGood book!

This is a well-researched and important book to read. I recommend it.

Published 3 months ago by John MacArthur, Pastor-Teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Fascinating

Published 3 months ago by Robert M. Ricketts MD
4.0 out of 5 starsGood reading

very informative, interesting reading

Published 3 months ago by cecelia Watkins
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great information about bank few know exist.

Published 3 months ago by Frederick Malcolm
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great book.

Published 3 months ago by Dorothy H.
4.0 out of 5 starsTypical European power group.

No body even is aware that this exists. Part of the one world government powers. Did not know our FED was involved.

Published 5 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsgreat history lesson but beware of the author's bias

It's a great history lesson, however; the author has a clear bent against the bank based on it's complicated history and international nature. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Lawrence Weintrub
5.0 out of 5 starsEver here of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS)? ...

Ever here of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS)? No? Then you need to. Few people have, just ask your friends. Read more

Published 7 months ago by HeyRef

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