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God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"A dogged reporter exhaustively pursues the nefarious enrichment of the Vatican, from the Borgias to Pope Francis....A meticulous work that cracks wide open the Vatican’s legendary, enabling secrecy." KIRKUS
"Posner proves more than up to this daunting challenge. A tireless and prolific historian and investigative journalist....it's a fast-paced read that brings history alive on every page. The book will captivate those who prefer their historical nonfiction spiked with real-life tales of murder, power and intrigue." BOOKLIST
"Posner uses his superlative investigative skills to craft a fascinating and comprehensive look at the dark side of the Catholic Church....Accessible and well written, Posner's is the definitive history of the topic to date." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)
"A stunning exposé...As exciting as a mystery thriller." PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
"A tale of intrigue, money and power that spans centuries...gripping reading...meticulously researched...a compelling story" WASHINGTON INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF BOOKS
"Posner's compelling book...: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"deeply researched, passionately argued...Posner..,is a merciless pitbull of an investigator, marshaling mountains of evidence to make his arguments." CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"An exhaustive history of the financial machinations at the center of the church in Rome....Posner weaves an extraordinarily intricate tale of intrigue, corruption and organized criminality." NEW YORK TIMES
Selected National Book Tour Appearances
NPR Morning Edition, January 30
Smerconish CNN, January 31
Diane Rehm, February 2
Michael Smerconish/Sirius XM - February 3
TheStreet.com - February 3
The Daily Ticker/Yahoo! Finance - February 3
HuffPost Live - February 3
ABC National radio interviews - February 4
Taking Stock/Bloomberg TV - February 4
Leonard Lopate WNYC-AM - February 4
Biz Talk/Jim Campbell - February 17
NPR/Topical Currents - March 5
THE DAILY SHOW with Jon Stewart - March 5
CONVERSATIONS WITH GREAT MINDS/Thom Hartmann, Pt 1 - March 16
CONVERSATIONS WITH GREAT MINDS/Thom Hartmann, Pt 2 - March 16
REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER (clip) - March 20
BOOM BUST/Erin Ade - PART 1 and PART 2, April 1
Chicago Council on Global Affairs (with Garry Wills) - June 4
Michael Smerconish SIRIUS - June 19
Spirited Debate - September 11
CNBC Power Lunch - September 23
HuffPost Live - September 23
Yahoo! Finance - September 23
Boom Bust, RT - September 25
Bloomberg Markets - September 25
Fortune Live - September 25
After the Bell/FOX Business - September 26
WDHT World News, September 14 and September 30
C-Span Book TV - November 22
About God's Bankers
A deeply reported, fast-paced exposé of the money and the cardinals-turned-financiers at the heart of the Vatican—the world’s biggest, most powerful religious institution—from an acclaimed journalist with “exhaustive research techniques” (The New York Times).
From a master chronicler of legal and financial misconduct, a magnificent investigation nine years in the making, this book traces the political intrigue and inner workings of the Catholic Church. Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this book is about the church’s accumulation of wealth and its byzantine entanglements with financial markets across the world. Told through 200 years of prelates, bishops, cardinals, and the Popes who oversee it all, Gerald Posner uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in perhaps the most influential organization in the history of the world.
God’s Bankers has it all: a rare exposé and an astounding saga marked by poisoned business titans, murdered prosecutors, mysterious deaths of private investigators, and questionable suicides; a carnival of characters from Popes and cardinals, financiers and mobsters, kings and prime ministers; and a set of moral and political circumstances that clarify not only the church’s aims and ambitions, but reflect the larger dilemmas of the world’s more recent history. And Posner even looks to the future to surmise if Pope Francis can succeed where all his predecessors failed: to overcome the resistance to change in the Vatican’s Machiavellian inner court and to rein in the excesses of its seemingly uncontrollable financial quagmire. Part thriller, part financial tell-all, this book shows with extraordinary precision how the Vatican has evolved from a foundation of faith to a corporation of extreme wealth and power.