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Overview
The #1 New York Times bestseller: a brilliant account—character-rich and darkly humorous—of how the U.S. economy was driven over the cliff. When the crash of the U. S. stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year, in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine, and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can’t pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren’t talking. The crucial question is this: Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages? Michael Lewis turns the inquiry on its head to create a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 best-selling Liar’s Poker. Who got it right? he asks. Who saw the real estate market for the black hole it would become, and eventually made billions of dollars from that perception? And what qualities of character made those few persist when their peers and colleagues dismissed them as Chicken Littles? Out of this handful of unlikely—really unlikely—heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our times.
Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, The Undoing Project, and The Fifth Risk. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and three children.
Date of Birth:
October 15, 1960
Place of Birth:
New Orleans, LA
Education:
Princeton University, B.A. in Art History, 1982; London School of Economics, 1985
Table of Contents
Prologue Poltergeist xiii
Chapter 1 A Secret Origin Story 1
Chapter 2 In the Land of the Blind 26
Chapter 3 "How Can a Guy Who Can't Speak English Lie?" 61
Chapter 4 How to Harvest a Migrant Worker 85
Chapter 5 Accidental Capitalists 104
Chapter 6 Spider-Man at The Venetian 136
Chapter 7 The Great Treasure Hunt 160
Chapter 8 The Long Quiet 179
Chapter 9 A Death of Interest 200
Chapter 10 Two Men in a Boat 226
Epilogue Everything Is Correlated 253
Afterword 265
Acknowledgments 269
Index 271
What People are Saying About This
Dick Durbin
I’ve joined a lot of other people in just finishing Michael Lewis’s book, The Big Short, and it’s really an eye-opener of what was going on at the time that this real estate bubble was created.
Carl Levin
I read it, marked it up for my staff, underlined it, made copies and asked them to read it.
Harry Reid
I recommend everyone within the sound of my voice to read [this] book.
Jackie Speier
[A]n incredible piece of commentary on Wall Street.
Byron Dorgan
If you’re wondering if there’s importance or an urgency to this issue, read the book The Big Short by Michael Lewis, and then, when you’re finished reading, come back to the floor and say that you support this amendment [on financial reform].
Néhány ??kivételes ember látta a jövot: a pénzügyi rendszer össze fog omlani és egy évtizedek
óta nem látott válság közeleg. Felismerték az ingatlanárak folyamatos emelkedése mögötti kockázatot és a kétes jelzáloghitelekbol kreált újfajta értékpapírok piacra zúdításának veszélyeit. Michael Lewis ironikus ...
Com apenas 24 anos, Michael Lewis foi contratado pelo banco Salomon Brothers. Recebia centenas de
milhares de dólares por ano mas não percebia nada de acções. Três anos depois bateu com a porta e escreveu o Liar's Poker a relatar ...
“How long it’s taken for these two mad, bad and dangerous writers to get together!”—Alan
Cheuse, San Francisco Chronicle Acclaimed biographer of James Joyce, Edna O’Brien has written a “jaunty” (The New Yorker) biography that suits her fiery and charismatic ...
This is a collection of summaries featuring books written by one of our greatest financial
journalist: Michael Lewis. It includes the #1 New York Times Bestsellers:Flash Boys, Liar’s Poker, The Big Short. The summaries provide insight to investments and securities ...
Published to coincide with the major release of HBO’s upcoming film Hemingway and Gellhorn, starring
Nicole Kidman and Clive Owen. Michael Reynolds was the supreme biographer of Ernest Hemingway. HBO’s film concentrates on Hemingway’s years with his third wife, the ...
The New York Times bestseller: “Hilarious. No mushy tribute to the joys of fatherhood, Lewis’
book addresses the good, the bad, and the merely baffling about having kids.”—Boston Globe When Michael Lewis became a father, he decided to keep a ...
In 1989, Michael Lewis reported on the potential effects of an earthquake in Japan on
world financial markets. His insights are once again timely, and they are presented here as a stand-alone essay with a new introduction: “Real Versus Imaginary ...
Product Description Interpretations: A Short Story Collection is a compilation of Denise Labrie's fictional short
stories written using interpretative literature. About the Author Denise Labrie is a freelance writer, composer, lyricist, and narrator known worldwide as The Creole Poet and ...
