In 1979, Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker initiated a new approach to monetary policy in the United States, moving the country away from Keynesian theory and into an era in which control of the money supply, not interest rates, would be the economy's guiding force. This shift drastically affected the oldest and largest banks in the country, including the Bank of America. Johnston explores the events and profiles the people in the big banks as they struggled with the new monetary policy, the impact of technology on the financial world, an overwhelming Third World debt, and a volatile stock market.