Is every single blog post during this recession going to reference the fact that we're in a recession? I hope not.

But buzz about a book that takes an in-depth look at the Great Depression -- Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed -- resulted in its selection as our May Book-of-the-Month selection. It's certainly relevant, it was published recently, and it centers around power, money, and 4 headstrong men.

The book presents the causes of the Great Depression as the result of decisions made by the most exclusive club in the world at the time: the central bankers of England, the U.S., Germany, and France. Just the names of the bankers should convince anyone interested in finance or history to give it a read; they were Montagu Norman, Èmile Moreau, Hjalmar Schacht and Benjamin Strong (I'll let you guess which countries they each represented).

James Fallows of The Atlantic, whom I enjoy reading for his insights into speeches and debates, recently pulled a couple paragraphs from the book to highlight how nonfiction writing should be done. Having made my way about 1/3 through the book - it's longer than our typical selection - I have to agree. If history was always made this interesting, I'd probably remember more of it.

Speaking of which: we haven't done a contest in a while, and it would probably make sense to hear from readers what books they're reading. So, tell me what you're reading. If it becomes June's Book-of-the-Month selection, we'll send you a $50 gift certificate! The book must have come out recently (or will come out before the 1st of June), and you have to be the first to suggest it to win.