BARNES & NOBLE | Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System - and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin, Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated | NOOK Book (eBook), Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook, Other Format

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Overview

A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America’s financial history by an acclaimed New York Times Reporter

Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami. From inside the corner office at Lehman Brothers to secret meetings in South Korea, and the corridors of Washington, Too Big to Fail is the definitive story of the most powerful men and women in finance and politics grappling with success and failure, ego and greed, and, ultimately, the fate of the world’s economy.

“We’ve got to get some foam down on the runway!” a sleepless Timothy Geithner, the then-president of the Federal Reserve of New York, would tell Henry M. Paulson, the Treasury secretary, about the catastrophic crash the world’s financial system would experience.

Through unprecedented access to the players involved, Too Big to Fail re-creates all the drama and turmoil, revealing neverdisclosed details and elucidating how decisions made on Wall Street over the past decade sowed the seeds of the debacle. This true story is not just a look at banks that were "too big to fail," it is a real-life thriller with a cast of bold-faced names who themselves thought they were too big to fail.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

If you have a wallet, a purse, or a bank account, Andrew Ross Sorkin is a name you should know. This award-winning New York Times financial columnist is regarded as a trustworthy business authority on the current global economic crisis. To assert that his DealBook website is popular is to understate: This financial news service attracts more than 2.5 million unique monthly users. His daily online business newsletter has more than 200,000 subscribers. This tightly embargoed book on Wall Street and Washington is already a topic of free-ranging speculation on the Net.

Paul M. Barrett

Sorkin's prodigious reporting and lively writing put the reader in the room for some of the biggest-dollar conference calls in history. It's an entertaining, brisk book…Sorkin skillfully captures the raucous enthusiasm and riotous greed that fueled this rational irrationality.
—The New York Times

More Reviews (5) Fewer Reviews

Business Week

. . . brings the drama alive with unusual inside access and compelling detail . . . A deeply researched account of the financial meltdown.

Financial Times

Sorkin's densely detailed and astonishing narrative of the epic financial crisis of 2008 is an extraordinary achievement that will be hard to surpass as the definitive account . . . as a dramatic close-up, his book is hard to beat.

The Economist

. . . meticulously researched . . . told brilliantly. Other blow-by-blow accounts are in the works. It is hard to imagine them being this riveting.

The New Yorker

. . . his action scenes are intimate and engaging . . .

TIME

. . . comprehensive and chilling . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780143118244
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Publication date: 9/7/2010
Pages: 640
Sales rank: 31,751
Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 1.50 (d)

Meet the Author

Andrew Ross Sorkin is the award-winning chief mergers and acquisitions reporter for The New York Times, a columnist, and assistant editor of business and finance news. He is also the editor and founder of DealBook, an online daily financial report. He has won a Gerald Loeb Award, the highest honor in business journalism, and a Society of American Business Editors and Writers Award. In 2007, the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader.

Read an Excerpt

PROLOGUE

Standing in the kitchen of his Park Avenue apartment, Jamie Dimon poured himself a cup of coffee, hoping it might ease his headache. He was recovering from a slight hangover, but his head really hurt for a different reason: He knew too much.

It was just past 7:00 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, September 13, 2008. Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s third largest bank, had spent part of the prior evening at an emergency, all-hands-on-deck meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with a dozen of his rival Wall Street CEOs. Their assignment was to come up with a plan to save Lehman Brothers, the nation’s fourth-largest investment bank—or risk the collateral damage that might ensue in the markets.

To Dimon it was a terrifying predicament that caused his mind to spin as he rushed home afterward. He was already more than two hours late for a dinner party that his wife, Judy, was hosting. He was embarrassed by his delay because the dinner was for the parents of their daughter’s boyfriend, whom he was meeting for the fi rst time.

“Honestly, I’m never this late,” he offered, hoping to elicit some sympathy.

Trying to avoid saying more than he should, still he dropped some hints about what had happened at the meeting. “You know, I am not lying about how serious this situation is,” Dimon told his slightly alarmed guests as he mixed himself a martini. “You’re going to read about it tomorrow in the papers.”

As he promised, Saturday’s papers prominently featured the dramatic news to which he had alluded. Leaning against the kitchen counter, Dimon opened the Wall Street Journal and read the headline of its lead story: “Lehman Races Clock; Crisis Spreads.”

Dimon knew that Lehman Brothers might not make it through the weekend. JP Morgan had examined its books earlier that week as a potential lender and had been unimpressed. He also had decided to request some extra collateral from the firm out of fear it might fall. In the next twenty four hours, Dimon knew, Lehman would either be rescued or ruined.

Knowing what he did, however, Dimon was concerned about more than just Lehman Brothers. He was aware that Merrill Lynch, another icon of Wall Street, was in trouble, too, and he had just asked his staff to make sure JP Morgan had enough collateral from that firm as well. And he was also acutely aware of new dangers developing at the global insurance giant American International Group (AIG) that so far had gone relatively unnoticed by the public—it was his firm’s client, and they were scrambling to raise additional capital to save it. By his estimation AIG had only about a week to find a solution, or it, too, could falter.

Of the handful of principals involved in the dialogue about the enveloping crisis—the government included—Dimon was in an especially unusual position. He had the closest thing to perfect, real-time information. That “deal flow” enabled him to identify the fraying threads in the fabric of the financial system, even in the safety nets that others assumed would save the day.

Dimon began contemplating a worst-case scenario, and at 7:30 a.m. he went into his home library and dialed into a conference call with two dozen members of his management team.

“You are about to experience the most unbelievable week in America ever, and we have to prepare for the absolutely worst case,” Dimon told his staff. “We have to protect the firm. This is about our survival.”

His staff listened intently, but no one was quite certain what Dimon was trying to say.

Like most people on Wall Street—including Richard S. Fuld Jr., Lehman’s CEO, who enjoyed one of the longest reigns of any of its leaders—many of those listening to the call assumed that the government would intervene and prevent its failure. Dimon hastened to disabuse them of the notion.

“That’s wishful thinking. There is no way, in my opinion, that Washington is going to bail out an investment bank. Nor should they,” he said decisively. “I want you all to know that this is a matter of life and death.

I’m serious.”

Then he dropped his bombshell, one that he had been contemplating for the entire morning. It was his ultimate doomsday scenario.

“Here’s the drill,” he continued. “We need to prepare right now for Lehman Brothers fi ling.” Then he paused. “And for Merrill Lynch filing.” He paused again. “And for AIG fi ling.” Another pause. “And for Morgan Stanley filing.” And after a final, even longer pause he added: “And potentially for Goldman Sachs filing.”

There was a collective gasp on the phone.

As Dimon had presciently warned in his conference call, the following days would bring a near collapse of the financial system, forcing a government rescue effort with no precedent in modern history. In a period of less than eighteen months, Wall Street had gone from celebrating its most profitable age to finding itself on the brink of an epochal devastation.

Trillions of dollars in wealth had vanished, and the financial landscape was entirely reconfigured. The calamity would definitively shatter some of the most cherished principles of capitalism. The idea that financial wizards had conjured up a new era of low-risk profits, and that American-style financial engineering was the global gold standard, was officially dead.

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PodcastSteve

Posted January 2, 2010

Too Big to Fail has topic that can't fail to interest business readers

Andrew Ross Sorkin's book is a good overview of the recent financial crisis, much as Bryan Burroughs' "Barbarians at the Gates" succeeded at capturing the deal-making insanity of the RJR Nabisco buyout two decades ago.

The book is a little superficial in its reliance on a few key participants for most of the narrative and anecdotes.

I worked in the bond rating industry for nearly 10 years, and I was surprised that Sorkin didn't explain why there's no input in the book from any people from that industry. It would have helped explain the critical role the rating agencies play in the overall operation of the financial industry, particularly the structured financings that played such a big role in this crisis.

I suspect it was hard to get people to speak on the record when lawsuits still haven't all been completely filed, but it would have been nice if Sorkin had tried to get more detailed explanations from the people most responsible for the dilemma, people structuring and rating the mortgage-backed securities that helped cause the fall of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns.

It also would have been helpful if he had been able to get some insurance industry experts to give him more insight into how AIG got itself into the business of insuring credit default risks that sank the company even while its primary business of traditional insurance lines remained solid and profitable.

The publisher must have been rushing to get the book out, because, to my surprise, there were a number of proofreading failures in the book, including misspellings and grammar errors that should have been caught. There was even a page where the same sentence, in slightly different form, appeared twice in a row.

Despite these shortcomings, I found the book an interesting read on a complicated subject, and since Sorkin clearly had unprecedented access to people like the Treasury secretary and the head of Goldman Sachs, it's almost certain to be regarded as the most authoritative account of what these people experiencedm at least until and unless they write their own memoirs.

9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted March 3, 2010

Worth the read

This book is very well written and provides the details that weren't available in the fall of 2009 when the financial crisis was in full swing. Without a financial background I was clueless when they were mentioning some of the mechanisms of the industry but not so much that I wanted to drop everything and consult a reference book. Had I known what was really taking place at the time, I would have been scared about the collapse of our economy. Greedy people taking too many risks are the reason we have to resort to government regulation.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted December 14, 2009

I Also Recommend:

Entertaining Read

Fastest, most fun read on the topic. Picks up where Cohan's House of Cards stops (the end of Bear) and follows the story right through TARP. Not much political bias and therefore a must read for anyone interested in the topic.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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just_another_book_lover

Posted March 12, 2010

Excellent read for understanding the fate of the big investment banks.

This book is an excellent choice for understanding what happened on Wall Street in 2008. Professional knowledge of how an investment bank or brokerage house works is not required to find this book accessible. The saga of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, AIG and Wachovia are told in thrilling detail. The level of Treasury Department and Federal Reserve involvement in the events that took place are quite shocking. Even with the beforehand knowledge of how the story ends I could not put this book down. An excellent account how close the financial system came to disaster and the measures taken by the government to save it from total collapse.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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mellon_baby_collie

Posted December 12, 2009

Fantastic! A real page turner.

This is a wonderful examination of the end of the storied history of traditional Wall Street firms, and the near-collapse of our moneycenter banks. Rich in detail, finely written, it is a must read on the recent financial trouble, and the heroic efforts of Paulson, Bernanke, and Geithner to stop the bleeding. One (mild) criticism of the story is that the sheer number of individuals involved in decisions, meetings, negotiations, &tc. seems to overwhelm the story arc.

An omission I'd also like to see addressed in a follow up book would be why these firms seem to have been able to ignor Sarbanes Oxley. I cannot figure out why the US Attorney's office is not handing out Sarbux indictments against dozens of individuals, starting with Stanley O'Neal, Dick Fuld, Erin Callan, Anthony Mozillo, etc., etc., etc.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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jimatl

Posted December 12, 2009

Great read

More than an explaination of what happened, Sorkin takes the reader into the personalities and interrelationships of some of the brightest, and most egotistical, financial people on the planet. a must read for anyone familiar with the industry & most others just for the knowledge. Reads like a novel, only no one could make this up.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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My_Last_Clancy

Posted August 16, 2011

Recommended as a companion to other books on the financial crisis

I feel the author is very soft on the executives of the very companies who brought about the financial crises of 2008 - 2009. He never goes into any of the root causes - the various accounting and packaging practices of bad loans, why the mortgages were issued to people who were obviously incapable or unwilling to repay the loans. Ne never addresses the deceptive practices of mortgage companies.

There is a lot of quoted conversations, leading me to believe that he fictionalized actual conversations; he repeatedly states what various executives "believe" but it seems that is HIS, the author's, projecting his own empathy into the story.

It is a good chronology of events for a limited period of time. It does make interesting reading, albeit you may develop undue sympathy for the executives paid many tens of millions of dollars a year as you read about their psychological stresses at the possibility of their greed-driven efforts crashing down about them.

I expected more hard facts about the crisis from a journalist of Sorkin's stature. I do recommend reading it, though. It is easy reading, although you will have to remember many different names (but he helps with that) and what banks they are associated with. But to get a good understanding of the crisis, you need to read something else.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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velkohl

Posted July 7, 2011

highly recommended

I had seen the movie, but wanted to read the book to get a more detailed view. This book reads like a mystery novel! I had such a hard time putting it down. Having it on my nook made it so easy to carry around, so that I could read it whenever I had waiting time. I expected the book to be more political (although the movie wasn't) but there was only the mention of President Bush when Paulson had to confer with him and again only a few words about McCain and Obama. This is all about Wall Street, the infighting, the coldness, the sadness, the dealing - all of it. This book really helped me, an outsider to the finalcial world- to understand this world and the people in it.
A great read.
Velma Kohl

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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covert

Posted April 10, 2011

A Thriller From DC

From the moment the reader picks up this book and flips through the first pages, their appetite to read more becomes insatiable. Even though it is a long read, it is like reading a murder mystery, where you can't wait to turn the page to find out who done it. The world is the stage and we are part of it because of our very existence in it. The players are real and for the first time the reader gets to see the true make up individuals and their psyches that control our major financial institutions and markets. It exudes death, not of the body, but of the U.S. markets and global economy. In the end, the reader is satisfied by the knowledge that world stability is restored and all is well, at least temporarily. One thing for sure, the reader leaves with a better understanding of the U.S. financial markets and its makeup.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 29, 2011

A Must Read - Was Hooked

This is essential reading for anyone wanting to grasp the dramatic events culminating in the "Great Recession". It reads like an action thriller with vivid, compelling prose and you feel almost transported. It coud have provided a bit more technical detail, but perhaps it would have muddled the extemely hectic storyline, so I still gave it 5 stars. Overall, a magnificent read that merits a spot on your bookshelf!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted December 28, 2010

Great Book!

This book was a great in debth book about wallstreet and how it crashed! It has taught me a lot. Another book that was recommended to me when purchasing this book was "Life After Foreclosure" by Dean Wegner. Both books really have taught me a lot and are highly recommended!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Bryant_E

Posted November 30, 2010

more from this reviewer

Good Read - Enlightening

I liked Sorkin's way of presenting complex historical material. Rather than dry musty financial details alone he adds a nice bit of flesh onto the bones of the decision makers. Paulsen's comment that a firm was in "deep doo-doo" struck me as funny. I couldn't imagine the Treasury chief making such a statement.

But Sorkin also brought all the pieces together and caused me to consider the financial meltdown a little differently than before. I'm not sure I've changed my mind but he did give me more to think about.

There's a helpful cast of characters at the beginning which you will need. Many of the players were, and remain, unknowns to the general public. If you wish to understand the events that led to TARP and the nationalization of much of the economy, read this book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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2212883

Posted November 9, 2010

hmmm

good one

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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willyvan

Posted September 17, 2010

I Also Recommend:

Vivid account of Wall Street's crimes

Andrew Sorkin is the chief mergers and acquisitions reporter for The New York Times. As he writes, his book is 'a chronicle of failure', capitalism's failure. He gives a detailed account of events from 17 March 2008, when JP Morgan took over Bear Stearns, one of Wall Street's big five.

Sandy Weill, the architect of Citigroup, said in 2007, "The whole world is moving to the American model of free enterprise and capital markets." They promised a new world of risk-free investment. Wall Street firms had a debt/capital ratio of 32/1. Also in 2007, the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its 1938 rule preventing investors continually shorting a falling stock. Lax regulation met greedy bankers.

In 1999 Ben Bernanke (now chairman of the Federal Reserve) had said that the dotcom bubble was not a big concern, unless and until it fed inflation. Similarly, the Fed ignored the growing housing bubble.

Bush's Treasury secretary Henry Paulson, a devout Christian Scientist and huge fundraiser for Bush, asked a possible new recruit to the Treasury, "Are you a Republican?" Sorkin writes, "As luck would have it, he was."

At a Goldman Sachs board meeting in June 2008, held to discuss a possible merger with AIG, nobody noted that AIG had overvalued its securities, even though they knew about it. Best and brightest? They may think so. They are the monsters, not the masters, of the universe.

As the crisis began, the head of one private-equity giant whinged, "Everybody is just pursuing his self-interest." When Wall Street's top nine CEOs met the Treasury team, on 13 October 2008, to agree the bail-out, the first question was, "Why am I in this room, talking about bailing you out?"

The second, and last, question was, "What kind of protections can you give us on changes in compensation policy?" A Treasury man replied, "We are going to be producing some rules so that the administration will not unilaterally change its view." As soon as they heard that their unlimited bonuses were safe, courtesy of the taxpayer, the CEOs signed.

Workers outside held signs saying, 'Jail not bail' and 'Crook'. The $1.1 trillion bail-out was by Wall Street, for Wall Street. As Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, asked, "Why would you try to bail out people whose sole job it is to make money?" Wall Street served and saved only itself, not its clients, not its borrowers, not the economy, not the American people.

Sorkin warns that 'vulture investors' are looking forward to the collapse of commercial real estate. There have been no real changes to Wall Street, so "when the next, inevitable bubble bursts, the cycle will only repeat itself."

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Parman

Posted July 23, 2010

more from this reviewer

Paulson Saved the Economy

The behind the scenes narative will absolutely amaze you. How all the players in the potential financial collapse are connected is scary. It is the good old boy club running our financial institutions. Once you understand the complexity of the financial products it will blow your mind. Just like the movie Wall Street, it depicts how greed kicks in. The lavish life styles and massive egos of those CEOs are the root of all evil.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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RolfDobelli

Posted April 26, 2010

more from this reviewer

Inside Wall Street's 2008 boardrooms

The ever-growing pile of books about the Great Recession holds two kinds of tomes: those that pontificate about what went wrong and what should change, and those that detail the minute-by-minute action in the boardrooms of Wall Street and Washington. This book is the second kind. New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin, who gained access to many high-level financial players, provides an ambitious, remarkably detailed account of the collapse and bailouts of 2008. He accomplishes two noteworthy feats: He digs up information that wasn't widely known, and he beautifully writes a page-turning yarn. getAbstract recommends his book to investors, policy makers and businesspeople who seek a clear observer's perspective on Wall Street's meltdown.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted April 25, 2010

I'm a Wall Street junkie and this is a great book. Sorkin loved Barbarians at the Gate and wrote something similar: lots of research, insights and great story-telling. Gives the reader understanding and perspective on the 2008 financial crisis.

Sorkin loved Barbarians at the Gate and wrote something similar: lots of research, insights and great story-telling. Gives the reader understanding and perspective on the 2008 financial crisis.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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campaignvet

Posted April 10, 2010

I Also Recommend:

The Financial Version of the T.V. Show "24"

This book, like the television show, deals with a race against time. It pretty much centers around the weekend of September 12-14 2008. The central Jack Bauer like character (Hank Paulson, Treasurey Secretary) must attempt to devise a way in concert with several major players, including (Tim Geithner then New York Fed Reserve Chair and Ben Bernanke Chair of the Federal Reserve) to stop a major financial world wide catrastrophic meltdown. And get the job done before the markets open on Monday! The book's author, Andrew Ross Sorkin, is a great story teller. He does a very nice job of explaining who the major Wall Street players are (here are just a few) John Mack,(Morgan Stanley) Dick Fuld,(Lehman Brothers), Jamie Dimon (J.P. Morgan) and Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs) and how their financial institutions came to power. As a financial writer for the New York Times, Sorkin, is quite adept at not only easily explaining such complex investment vehicles as derivative and swaps, but how these investments led in large part to the crisis. What happens next to Morgan Stanley, Merril Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG and Goldman Sachs makes this book a page turner. And if there isn't enough pressure in meeting this impossible weekend deadline Paulson, Geithner, Bernanke and their staffs face several major hurdle, including getting reluctant Congressional leaders to approve an unpopular major Wall Street bailout, getting no help from a concern President who is mortally wounded by his lameduck status and low poll numbers and dealing with a financial meltdown where no one really knows how bad the debt numbers for these failing companies are, so why should another firm even come to their rescue or for that matter no what to bid per share to acquire it! Sorkin does a great job of making you feel that you are actually in the room when the wheeling and dealing is going on between Paulson, Geithener and the Wall Street heads, and the stakes couldn't be higher. The author does a great job in clearly giving an unvarnished and objective portrait of all the players, including Paulson. LIke a Jack Bauer, some may not approve of all the negotiating methods he (Paulson) used, but the idea was to get the job done. The book provides a most entertaining and frightening picture of how truly close we came to the economic brink. Any person who is interested in politics, business or history, will find this a fascinating read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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NormCr

Posted March 20, 2010

Absolutely Gripping Adventure Story

This is an absolutely gripping adventure story. Those of us who might consider ourselves to be reasonably well-informed students of economics and political history, knew during the chaos of late 2008 that we were watching truly historic events unfold. This book captures both the breadth and the detail of what went on behind closed doors in Washington and on Wall Street. I knew someome would write "The Book" on this subject and this is it. The author has no agenda: no one is made to look evil or stupid. He's just reporting the facts and telling the story in a clear, concise and compelling manner. I couldn't put the book down and I've talked to other professionals that feel the same. If you like Grisham or Clancey, you'll love this book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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MrMagister

Posted February 6, 2010

A "must read" if you want to understand the forces shaping our economy

Sorkin's book reads like a fast-pace, detailed thriller. The only problem is that the combination of venality, greed, ego and bad decision-making is true and wreaked havoc on the lives of countless innocent bystanders. I don't know how anyone can read the book (or otherwise understand what happened in financial markets over the past ten years) and not support a significant change in public policy that prevents a re-occurrence of this tragedy (which will happen again if we don't do something).

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Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System - and Themselves

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Paul M. Barrett

Business Week

Financial Times

The Economist

The New Yorker

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Too Big to Fail has topic that can't fail to interest business readers

Worth the read

Entertaining Read

Excellent read for understanding the fate of the big investment banks.

Fantastic! A real page turner.

Great read

Recommended as a companion to other books on the financial crisis

highly recommended

A Thriller From DC

A Must Read - Was Hooked

Great Book!

Good Read - Enlightening

hmmm

Vivid account of Wall Street's crimes

Paulson Saved the Economy

Inside Wall Street's 2008 boardrooms

I'm a Wall Street junkie and this is a great book. Sorkin loved Barbarians at the Gate and wrote something similar: lots of research, insights and great story-telling. Gives the reader understanding and perspective on the 2008 financial crisis.

The Financial Version of the T.V. Show "24"

Absolutely Gripping Adventure Story

A "must read" if you want to understand the forces shaping our economy