Product Description

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, Russia 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, 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 president of the Federal Reserve of New York would tell Henry M.Paulson, the Treasury Secretary about the catastrophic crash of the world's financial system would experience. Through unprecendented access to the players involved, Too Big to Fail recreates all the drama and turmoil, revealing never-disclosed 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 about a cast of bold-faced names who themselves thought they were "too big to fail".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

Review
Andrew Ross Sorkin pens what may be the definitive history of the banking crisis (The Atlantic Monthly )

Andrew Ross Sorkin has written a fascinating, scene-by-scene saga of the eyeless trying to march the clueless through Great Depression II (Tom Wolfe )

Sorkin has succeeded in writing the book of the crisis, with amazing levels of detail and access (Reuters )

Sorkin can write. His storytelling makes Liar's Poker look like a children's book (SNL Financial )

Too good to put down . . . It is the story of the actors in the most extraordinary financial spectacle in 80 years, and it is told brilliantly . . . It is hard to imagine them being this riveting (Economist )

About 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 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 names him a Young Global Leader.

Customer Reviews

A remarkable book
I bought this book after watching the author in an hour-long interview on Charlie Rose - on Bloomberg.

I have never read a book of over five hundred pages so quickly. It is easy to understand, with clear explanations of who was who in this sensational story. It seemed to me to be carefully researched and have authority, but it was above all readable.

If you would like to try to understand what happened to capitalism last year, this will help.

The 2008 financial crisis:The inside story
This is the first and gripping inside story of the unfolding drama of the 2008 financial crisis, the worst since the great depression, which metastasized like a mailignant cancer to envelope the whole world.

The author, Andrew Ross Sorkin, a business writer at the New York Times, has conducted a meticulous research drawing on 200 of those participated in the events it covers. The book is as detailed as spiced with many colourful anectodes.

The book is the definitive story of the most powerful men in finance and politics grappling with success and failure, ego, and, ultimately, the fate of the world's economy but also elucidating how decisions made in the Wall Street over the last decade sowed the seeds of financial catastrophe.

The book reconstructs vividly the events surrounding the seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman's Brothers collapse, the rescue of the American International Goup (AIG) and the shoring of big banks' capital with Public funds.

The book describes vividly the confusion, reversal and arbitrariness of policy decisions. Regulators would back a merger in one instance only to reverse it in the next for reasons that confused bankers. The $700 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief was a monument of arbitrariness and guesswork. The improvisations evident across Wall Street was similary notorious.

The author casts protagonists in different light. Hank Paulson, the then Treasury Secretary, acted decisively but not always wisely. Tim Geithner then President of the Federal Reserve of New York was tough minded while Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve was cool headed and professorial. Under unfavourable light comes Christopher Cox, then the wavering head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The darkest light falls on Lehman's boss Dick Fuld combining hubris and ineptitude;he sacked or sidelined those who gave warning about the staggering debt levels and dangerous exposure to commercial property while he scuppered a life-saving deal with the South Koreans.

A remarkable book
The global recession that raged through the entire globe in 2008-2009 was one of the biggest in history. The causes are complicated and it underlined how interconnected the global economy really is.

What Sorkin does is introduce the major (mainly American) players in this tale of an inexorable slide into chaos across the world's economies and show you what they were thinking and how they responded. In 100 years this book will be priceless as we get a look at the human element more than the numbers. He interviewed them, and dissected their statements with colleagues what this leaves us with is a day by day guide to what happened.

It reads almost like a Dan Brown thriller, it is page turning stuff which is a major achievement as this is ultimately a tale of middle aged men talking a lot about sub prime mortgages, however jargon is either avoided or explained and the sheer pace and authority of the writing pulls you in and keeps you engaged.

In short this is a must read.