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 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 with a cast of bold-faced names who themselves thought they were too big to fail.

Summary: Anatomy of a Financial Meltdown
Rating: 5

How does a global economy become crippled when so many supposedly savvy power brokers are calling the shots? In rehashing the worst ecomonic meltdown since The Great Depression, Andrew Sorkin's riveting recollection describes a chilling scenario filled with outrageously bad judgment, greed and hubris; in the end, Wall Street fell to its knees in stunning magnitude.

In the wreckage, some of its most prestigious firms were crippled, and some of its most heralded CEOs were decisively knocked out of the game. This was no technical knock out; this was lights out for good. It's a shocking reminder that nobody is immune from an ignominous downfall, especially when they think they're "too big to fail".

In the aftermath, we should have learned many lessons of fiscal prudence. Sorkin walks us through the process with great skill, with a narrative that is as compelling as anything I've ever read. To the layman, this may be as dry as an instruction manual for a small appliance; but the message is clear. Wall Street is not on autopilot; their decisions have to be sound to work; and the Federal Government is often as helpless as anyone else in preventing the negative tidal wave of financial fallout.

In the end, the system of captialism will work itself out; I think it's our best option for economic stability, despite all the bad publicity by the narrow minded or the misguided. One thing's for sure; for the free-market system to work, the power brokers in charge of our largest financial institutions better stay on top of their games. The market will not tolerate an ill-fated approach to running their business; period.



Summary: A Well-Written, But Frightening Work
Rating: 5

This was a very dense, but easy-to-read book that opened a window on an amazing period in U.S. history. I was fascinated how a small group of (almost all) men were caught up in a panic partly of their own making and were forced to make far-reaching decisions in a very short time under enormous pressure. The cast of characters was almost too big to follow, but the writer managed to keep my attention and bring me along for a very wild ride.