In the Eye of the Storm

Chosen chairman of Bank of America in 2009, Walter Massey is the first banking insider to reveal the inner workings behind the country’s worst financial crisis in 2008.

Although a global financial meltdown occurred a dozen years later, it was triggered by Covid-19—a global pandemic. But the earlier catastrophe had been precipitated by a downturn in the U.S. housing market followed by large bank losses, excessive risk taking, and the concomitant greed and fraud that were cronies of that stressful macroeconomic environment.

Still, Walter E. Massey’s intimate memoir is more than a revelation about those perilous years of the American economy. A successful professional whose achievements embody a startling range of aptitudes, he gives the reader a remarkably personal record of how a black boy from Hattiesburg, Mississippi who entered Morehouse College at age 16 on a special Ford Foundation program, was able to reach those heights.

Through flashbacks, Massey describes how his earlier leadership positions prepared him for the unexpected challenges he faced at the bank. They had all been learning experiences—from director of the Argonne National Laboratory, director of the National Science Foundation, president of Morehouse College, and currently president and chancellor of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Comprehensive, intimate, and revealing, his is an eloquent testimony to how one succeeds by accepting challenges, forging alliances, and maintaining personal integrity.

At the end of it all, he hopes that readers will find his story encouraging enough to push ahead toward their goals and not be daunted by the seeming enormity of the task.