In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington

IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD opens in 1995 as Robert Rubin is sworn in as the 70th Treasury Secretary of the United States, and only moments later enters into one of the biggest challenges of his time in the Cabinet: the Mexican peso crisis. Immediately, we are plunged into the thick of things along with him, given never-before-revealed insider’s insight on some of the most important events in recent American history. Moving on from the Mexican crises, Rubin covers his 26 years at Goldman Sachs; his instrumental role at the NEC, where he was largely responsible for the passage of NAFTA; his term as Treasury Secretary, where he was one of the principal architects of the President’s balanced-budget agreement, spearheaded reforms at the IRS, prevented the financial crises in Asia and Russia from contaminating the global economy, and resolved the 1997 federal government shut-downs, among many other things. Indeed, Rubin takes us through the whole of his life and career, from his New York City public-school days through to his current position as a Director of Citigroup, one of the largest financial institutions in the world.

Rubin’s life has had an amazing sweep, but even more remarkable is the man behind it: in these pages we learn of his unique philosophy and how he has applied it to every aspect of his life—as a student, an arbitrageur, a manager, a policymaker, and a financier—to stunning success. This is a memoir like none other: it provides startlingly lucid explanations of some of the most complex economic and political events of our time, while also presenting sound lessons on decision-making, management, work ethic, and foreign policy, and fiscal responsibility for CEOs, policymakers, and laymen alike.

Never pompous, Rubin is an utterly engaging and eminently approachable writer, something almost completely unexpected from a key figure behind the longest peacetime economic expansion in American history, and the man whom President Clinton called “the greatest Secretary of Treasury since Alexander Hamilton.”