Radical insider's account of how the city of London really works
For nearly twenty years, Tony Norfield worked in bank dealing rooms in the City of London. For ten years he was an Executive Director and the Global Head of FX Strategy in a major European bank, travelling to some forty countries on business, negotiating with finance ministries, central banks and major corporations. He was frequently quoted in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian and Telegraph, and on news services such as Reuters, Bloomberg, CNN and CNBC. In 2014, he was awarded a PhD in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Norfield writes from a position of experience: he has worked in the
belly of the beast, and the book is the better for it...In The
City, he has done the research and pulled together the
financial statistics that explain how the bloodsucking works. *
Financial Times *
With heaps of empirical research and a clear style of
argumentation, he demonstrates that the City isn't a "satellite of
Wall Street" as many think, but its own beast, using Britain's
imperialist privilege to extract value from the world economy. Much
of the book is directed against bad arguments made by the
liberal-left - the distinction between "productive" capitalism
and"casino" banking; the populist vitriol against "the banks"-
which Norfield believes aren't just analytically false but let
capitalism off the hook. * Vice *
This book does the seemingly impossible: rendering finance's
mysteries transparent to the average reader, and at the same time
delivering a penetrating analysis of the global economic system
that will enlighten even experts. Tony Norfield has written a truly
exciting and important book. -- Paul Mattick, author of Business as
Usual
TheCity is a valuable addition to the critical analysis of
the financialisation of our world. And Tony Norfield is an
experienced and radical guide to London's role in this process.
This book should be required reading for both bankers and activists
alike. -- Joris Luyendjik, author of Swimming with Sharks: My
Journey into the World of the Bankers
A timely and insightful book...It is an excellent read foranyone
seriously wanting to consider the financial system * Scottish
Business Insider *
How many Marxists are at work in the dealing rooms of the City?
Presumably they keep their heads well down. Tony Norfield is-or
was-one. Twenty years a trader at the centre of the financial web,
he has married the insights into the workings of the system he
gained to a thorough Marxist understanding of political economy.
The result is this fascinating book. * Morning Star *
Tony Norfield has had20 years experience in City of London
financial dealing rooms, for ten years asan executive director and
global head of FX strategy in a major European bank.He went on to
complete a PhD in economics at SOAS, London. Above all, he is
aMarxist. It's a perfect recipe for an excellent book on modern
Britishimperialism and the features of global finance in the 21st
century. -- Michael Roberts, author of The Long Depression
Norfield's unusual clarity as both an analyst and expositor is
reflected in his ability to lay out for his readers an
easy-to-grasp introduction to how finance works today in the
process of offering a detailed historically-rooted account of the
multiple hierarchies and privileged relationships through which
global economic domination is constructed and reproduced. The
City is a tour de force, which will soon be recognized as a
formidable challenge to conventional wisdom and an essential
contribution in its own right. -- Robert Brenner, author of The
Economics of Global Turbulence
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