Six Months of Panic: How the Global Financial Crisis Hit Australia
Australian History Young Adult Non-Fiction Economic History Personal Finance Business History Non-Fiction Narrative Professional Finance
Six Months of Panic: How the Global Financial Crisis Hit Australia is the definitive first-edition chronicle that business-book collectors and finance-minded readers have been hunting since 2010. Veteran Australian financial journalist Trevor Sykes distils the dizzying six-month period when Lehman Brothers collapsed, credit markets froze and Australia teetered on the brink of recession. Across 464 pages of colourfully illustrated hardcover, Sykes explains—without the jargon—how mortgage-backed securities in the United States ricocheted through Australian banks, superannuation funds and everyday household budgets, and why this country dodged the worst of the carnage. If you want a single volume that captures the drama, the politics and the human cost of 2008–09, this is it.
What makes this Allen & Unwin first edition special is its combination of eyewitness reportage and long-view economic history. Sykes had a front-row seat: he was writing for the Australian Financial Review as boardrooms panicked, emergency Reserve Bank meetings stretched past midnight and the Government rolled out its first stimulus cheques. The result is a narrative that reads like a thriller but is footnoted like an academic text, packed with graphs, archival photos and bite-sized explainers of derivatives, currency swaps and the role of the “Four Pillars” banking policy. Young adults studying commerce, MBA candidates, or any investor who lived through the crisis will recognise the quotes, headlines and share-price tables that flashed across their screens at the time.
For collectors, the physical book itself is a prize: a chunky 9.5-inch hardback wrapped in the original dust jacket, weighing in at just under 28 oz and still bright after more than a decade. This copy shows only the faintest signs of reading—just a few dog-eared pages—making it far cleaner than most ex-library survivors on the secondary market. With the ISBN 9781742373805 now out of print, a well-preserved first edition is becoming increasingly scarce, especially one from a smoke-free home. Grab it now and you’ll own the most readable, authoritative and collectible account of how Australia kept the wolf from the door during the Global Financial Crisis.
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