In July 2007, the combination of a seemingly unstoppable rise in house prices
and bullish banks swimming in liquidity meant that almost anyone could get a
mortgage in the UK or US. Little more than a month later the supply of credit
dried up practically overnight, leaving the world wondering how bank liquidity
could suddenly vanish. In "Financial Alchemy in Crisis," Anastasia Nesvetailova
shows that this liquidity never actually existed. The rise of sophisticated
financial instruments created what appeared to be an abundance of liquid funds
but was in fact a credit pyramid. As soon as house prices stopped rising the
reality was exposed. Nesvetailova's bold and