NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A thriller of a different kind—with an unlikely band of economists and bureaucrats working in the shadows to save the world.”—Charles Frazier, New York Times bestselling author of Cold Mountain
An ordinary man joins a secret mission to bring down the Nazi war machine by crashing their economy in this thrilling novel based on a true story, from the Academy Award–winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night.1939. Ansel Luxford has everything a person could want—a comfortable career, a brilliant spouse, a beautiful new baby. But he is obsessed by a belief that Europe is on the precipice of a war that will grow to consume the world. The United States is officially proclaiming neutrality in any foreign conflict, but when Ansel is offered an opportunity to move to Washington, D.C., to join a clandestine project within the Treasury Department that is working to undermine Nazi Germany, he uproots his family overnight and takes on the challenge of a lifetime.
How can they defeat the enemy without firing a bullet?
To thwart the Nazis, Ansel and his team invent a powerful new theater of battle: economic warfare. Money is a dangerous weapon, and Ansel’s efforts will plunge him into a world full of peril and deceit. He will crisscross the globe to broker backroom deals, undertake daring heists, and spar with titans of industry like J.P. Morgan and the century’s greatest economic mind, Britain’s John Maynard Keynes. When Ansel’s wife takes a job with the FBI to hunt for spies within the government, the need for subterfuge extends to the home front. And Ansel discovers that he might be closer to those spies than he could ever imagine.
The Wealth of Shadows is a mind-expanding historical novel about the mysterious powers of money, the lies worth telling to defeat evil, and a hidden war that shaped the modern world.
"1939. Ansel Luxford has everything a man could want-a law firm partnership in Minneapolis, a brilliant wife, a beautiful new baby. But he is consumed by his belief that the war in Europe will spread, despite the fact that the United States is neutral in the conflict. When he is offered an opportunity to move across the country to Washington, D.C., to join a clandestine team within the Treasury Department that is secretly trying to undermine Nazi Germany, he uproots his family overnight and takes on the challenge of a lifetime. To thwart the Nazis without firing a bullet, Ansel and his new team invent a powerful new kind of economic warfare. As the U.S. remains officially neutral, Ansel secretly crisscrosses the globe to broker backroom deals designed to cut off the German supply of gold; undertake a daring heist of intel suppressed by homegrown fascists within the American government; and spar with titans of industry like J.P. Morgan and the twentieth century's greatest economic mind, Britain's John Maynard Keynes. But money is a dangerous weapon, and Ansel's efforts will plunge him into a startling new world of espionage, peril, and deceit. The need for subterfuge extends to the home front when Ansel's wife takes a job with the FBI to hunt for spies within the government. And Ansel discovers that he might be closer to those spies than he could ever imagine"--
