Adults in the Room

My Battle with the European and American Deep Establishment

By: Yanis Varoufakis

Narrated by: Leighton Pugh

A number one Sunday Times best seller transformed into an illuminating, dynamic audiobook.

What happens when you take on the establishment? In Adults in the Room, renowned economist and former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis gives the full, blistering account of his momentous clash with the mightiest economic and political forces on earth.

After being swept into power with the leftwing Syriza party, Varoufakis attempts to renegotiate Greece's relationship with the EU - and sparks a spectacular battle with global implications. Varoufakis' new position sends him ricocheting between mass demonstrations in Athens, closed-door negotiations in drab EU and IMF offices, and furtive meetings with power brokers in Washington, DC. He consults and quarrels with Barack Obama, Emmanuel Macron, Christine Legarde, the economists Larry Summers and Jeffrey Sachs, and others as he struggles to relieve Greece's debt crisis without resorting to punishing austerity measures. But, despite the mass support of the Greek people and the simple logic of Varoufakis' arguments, he succeeds only in provoking the fury of Europe's elite.

Varoufakis' unvarnished memoir is an urgent warning that the economic policies once embraced by the EU and the White House have failed - and spawned authoritarianism, populist revolt, and instability throughout the Western world. Adults in the Room is an extraordinary tale of brinkmanship, hypocrisy, collusion, and betrayal that will shake the global establishment to its foundations.

A must-listen for anyone interested in current events and the delicate web of global economics.

©2017 Yanis Varoufakis (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Leighton Pugh narrates this work as if it were an unsolved mystery...In a voice of nuanced emotion, Pugh creates muted characters to paint a vivid picture of what the author was up against as he tried to save his country." ( AudioFile Magazine)

Hearing an insider’s perspective.

It’s not often one can get the insider’s side of what really goes on in the world of politics and economics, fascinating. Competent narration.

Important piece of recent history

This is one of the best and most honest accounts of both recent history and inner workings of politics and establishment.
A must-listen for everyone interested in politics, especially for Europeans.

GREEK TRAGEDY

Yanis Varoufakis gives listeners a glimpse of decisions made when a national government is compelled to declare a national debt crisis. To fairly understand "Adults in the Room", one will struggle with Varoufakis long story. His story is about restructuring rather than refinancing the debt owed the E.U. and IMF for a national debt crisis. A distinction between restructuring and refinancing is needed to understand Varoufakis's story. In "restructuring" the terms of repayment are revised on an original debt, while in "refinancing" the debtor's burden is increased.

At best, one concludes, restructuring Greece's debt was a great idea that could have achieved a decent compromise for its lenders. On the other hand, one wonders what the leaders of Greece were doing when the repayment crises first began to show itself. There were undoubtedly some powerful and rich Greek leaders who could have come to the aid of their country in this 21st century "time of need". Great leaders of Greece's past fail to show up even though the general population rejects the E.U.'s and IMF's decision to refinance rather than restructure Greek debt. One is reminded of the heroic defense of Greek citizens in Crete when Nazis invaded their strategically located island. Where were the descendants of the many great Greek heroes of antiquity?

An Extraordinary and Very Important Story

A rare outsider's expose of the secret inner workings that dominate western democracies. Highly recommended.

Exceptional economic documentary

Exceptional economic documentary written by a visionary economist who is anchored by humanity and the plight of those that reap the bitter rewards of misguided oligarchs and government officials.

Very interesting but listen with caution.

Varoufakis is an intelligent man and a talented writer. But, being a Greek myself and having lived through this story, as I was listening to the audiobook I was always aware of what should be obvious: That there are many sides to this story. I don't have the financial knowledge to evaluate all his arguments, so I won't get into that. Other people have.
In my opinion, Varoufakis' lack of substantial self-reflection and self-criticism (which I think is evident in this book) is a pity. He would have been more useful if he had more. I'm not saying this audiobook isn't worth listening to. It definitely is. I'm saying that it would be extremely naive to listen to this without keeping in mind that this is only one side of a very complicated story.
The narration is excellent.

This book will leave you dumbfounded!

Illuminating content excelent narration! For people who wish to know the truth a must have.

A critically important expose of the forces - actors, mindsets and tactics - that now rule.

By detailing a moment-to-moment chronical of his battle with the European and U.S. ruling, financial and political establishment, Yanis Varoufakis reveals not only the role and motivations of those setting policy, but also of their henchmen (& women). This is a valuable and timely expose of the moral and practical bankruptcy of that establishment which also points a way forward for a true people’s democracy - in the face of rising economic devastation and xenophobic nationalism. A must-read for those favoring democracy or opposing fascism. Quite an amazing contribution.

Loved it

A must read for any hopeful European. I wrote a review on my blog: http://www.blaicarandell.com/2018/08/29/a-pessimistic-story-for-the-hopeful-european/

Horrifyingly Excruciating

I was prompted to read this book after listening to an interview by Daniel Denvir on Jacobin's "The Dig" podcast with Varoufakis and Brazilian presidential candidate Fernando Haddad at the New School in New York City. I've already read "And the Weak Suffer What They Must?" but have yet to read his latest title.

This is play-by-play of Varoufakis' six months as Minister of Finance in Greece in 2015, surrounding their third bailout.

Varoufakis' goal as finance minister was to restructure Greece's debt so that it was more sustainable. For reasons which this book does not adequately elucidate, this was not an objective of the troika. Given this scenario, Varoufakis planned on Grexit, but his prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, chickened out on the plan and repeated the failures of the previous administration.

The narrative is excruciating. There are moments of hope repeatedly through the text, chronically dashed. If you're interested in learning about international finance, it is a worthwhile text.

The surprising hero of the book in Bernie Sanders, who repeatedly had Greece's back. Apparently Sanders and Varoufakis recently launched an initiative called the Progressive International as a tonic to the spread of rightwing nationalism.

I'm left wondering what the Venn diagram of Varoufakis, Mark Blyth, Mary Mellor, and Andrew Ross might look like.

In conclusion, it seems we're much closer to World War III than I would have wished. Trump's election is entirely explicable given Greece's story.