I’m increasingly curious about the late 1960s through roughly 1982. Inflation was double digits. Interest rates were right at 20%. Lots of social and economic change was going on.

I’ve been digging into this period for the last few weeks to understand what happened, why it happened, and what can be learned. This week’s book, T. Rowe Price, is a deeper dive into the time. This biography of Thomas Rowe Price Jr., founder of T. Rowe Price Group is a reread; when I read it before, I noted that Price was ahead of the pack in seeing what was coming in the ’60s and ’70s and positioning himself and his portfolios to sidestep the turmoil.

The book has a chapter dedicated to the period from 1971 to 1982. In that chapter, it details the macro events that Price focused on to understand what was happening and determine what was likely to happen. It also provides perspective on the political climate and discusses how the actions of Richard Nixon and Arthur Burns accelerated inflation. It details how Jimmy Carter appointed Paul Volcker Fed Chairman and the drastic actions he took to get inflation under control. This chapter talks about a lot more and does a great job of describing how the dominoes fell during this period.

Lastly, this book uses Price’s private notes to highlight his thoughts on the trajectories of inflation and monetary policy. Understanding the raw thoughts of someone as they navigated this period was very helpful. It also details the actions he took with his portfolios, why he took those actions, and why his portfolios performed so well.

I’m glad I read this book again. It was even better than the first time because it helped me answer specific questions and fill in the gaps. The chapters covering the 1960s through the early 1980s were exactly what I was looking for and I absorbed more from them the second time around.

Anyone interested in learning more about one of the great investors and entrepreneurs or the changes in the investment landscape from the 1930s through the 1980s might enjoy reading T. Rowe Price.