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The End of Wall Street

3.77 of 5 stars 3.77 · rating details · 510 ratings · 58 reviews

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The roots of the mortgage bubble and the story of the Wall Street collapse-and the government's unprecedented response-from our most trusted business journalist.

The End of Wall Street is a blow-by-blow account of America's biggest financial collapse since the Great Depression. Drawing on...more Watch a Video
Download the cheat sheet for Roger Lowenstein's The End of Wall Street »

The roots of the mortgage bubble and the story of the Wall Street collapse-and the government's unprecedented response-from our most trusted business journalist.

The End of Wall Street is a blow-by-blow account of America's biggest financial collapse since the Great Depression. Drawing on 180 interviews, including sit-downs with top government officials and Wall Street CEOs, Lowenstein tells, with grace, wit, and razor-sharp understanding, the full story of the end of Wall Street as we knew it. Displaying the qualities that made When Genius Failed a timeless classic of Wall Street-his sixth sense for narrative drama and his unmatched ability to tell complicated financial stories in ways that resonate with the ordinary reader- Roger Lowenstein weaves a financial, economic, and sociological thriller that indicts America for succumbing to the siren song of easy debt and speculative mortgages.

The End of Wall Street is rife with historical lessons and bursting with fast-paced action. Lowenstein introduces his story with precisely etched, laserlike profiles of Angelo Mozilo, the Johnny Appleseed of subprime mortgages who spreads toxic loans across the landscape like wild crabapples, and moves to a damning explication of how rating agencies helped gift wrap faulty loans in the guise of triple-A paper and a takedown of the academic formulas that-once again- proved the ruin of investors and banks. Lowenstein excels with a series of searing profiles of banking CEOs, such as the ferretlike Dick Fuld of Lehman and the bloodless Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan, and of government officials from the restless, deal-obsessed Hank Paulson and the overmatched Tim Geithner to the cerebral academic Ben Bernanke, who sought to avoid a repeat of the one crisis he spent a lifetime trying to understand-the Great Depression.

Finally, we come to understand the majesty of Lowenstein's theme of liquidity and capital, which explains the origins of the crisis and that positions the collapse of 2008 as the greatest ever of Wall Street's unlearned lessons. The End of Wall Street will be essential reading as we work to identify the lessons of the market failure and start to reb...(less)

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published April 6th 2010 by Penguin Press HC, The (first published January 1st 2010)

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Apr 09, 2012 Walt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics-current-events

It is difficult to place this book in a list of recommended readings. It includes detailed information presented in a chronological scheme; but the writing style assumes the reader is versed in the language and operations of Wall Street. However, if the reader is familiar with the lingo of the business world - and derivatives in particular - and the operations of Wall Street, the book may be too simple.

As someone reading for casual interest, I got only bits and pieces of understand. Lowenstein...more It is difficult to place this book in a list of recommended readings. It includes detailed information presented in a chronological scheme; but the writing style assumes the reader is versed in the language and operations of Wall Street. However, if the reader is familiar with the lingo of the business world - and derivatives in particular - and the operations of Wall Street, the book may be too simple.

As someone reading for casual interest, I got only bits and pieces of understand. Lowenstein does not explain things well, and when he does explain terms and conditions, he does so casually and does not refer back to them. A case in point is derivatives. He briefly mentions that they are a financial tool that are derived from something else, such as debt. What does this mean? I do not know. CDOs? I mistook these for credit default swaps; but they are another financial tool.

The result is that I do have a better understanding of events leading to the 2008 economic melt down; but I am not confident in being able to share that information to another casual reader. Lowenstein does a good job in places. His discussion on credit default swaps was informative. Readers may know they are insurance premiums on financial trades; but few casual readers probably realize that anyone could take out a CDS on any trade whether they were an active party in the trade. The result is that third parties would purchase a lot of CDS and try to make the trades fail.

Lowenstein introduces a lot of new people into the situation. Many of them are lawyers, and others are "they number two guy at JP Morgan," or some such vague position. The result is an impenetrable web of meetings and personas. Some are good and competent; others are not so good and careless. Lowenstein appears to try to avoid laying blame. The closest he comes is the hard core conservative ideology of Hank Paulson, Paulson's inner circle of Goldman expatriates, and unidentified hedge fund managers who actively sought to collapse some of the big banks.

Scattered into this mix is an ambiguous character named Rodriguez. He seems to have been a financial trader of some sort who had no formal role in the outcome of the financial collapse; but rather was an average guy who presaged doom. Lowenstein glorifies the trader, who correctly predicted the fallout of the collapse. Too bad Rodriguez retired....Perhaps the main reason for including him is to show that some traders knew bad times were coming, even if the CEOs did not.

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Jan 11, 2012 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: business, non-fiction

I had procrastinated reading accomplished financial journalist Roger Lowenstein's latest effort about the 2008 financial crisis, The End of Wall Street, in part because it was published halfway through 2010, by which time the economic recovery had begun and I tired of dreary accounts of how close we came to still worse calamity. But I knew I'd read it eventually - Lowenstein has earned as much, having written several of the top financial books of the past two decades, including easily the best W...more

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Oct 24, 2011 James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: finance

Better than the average book about the crash,
but considering it was recently published there's not much new detail.

The author does give good accounts of the TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
that failing CEO's got for ruining their companies.

An amazing number of key people are vacationing in Italy, the Virgin Islands and
other exotic spots WHILE the crisis is unfolding and need to cut the vacation short.
Not only outrageous pay, but lots of vacation time for incompetents.

I think he's overly critic...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Mac rated it 4 of 5 stars

With essentially the same content as Sorkin's "Too Big to Fail," Lowenstein's book traces the roots of the financial crisis and follows the events as they unfolded. While it doesn't have the same level of detail that "TBTF" contains, it does have more in-depth analysis of the events, something Sorkin clearly resisted.

With this analysis comes a point of view, and Lowenstein identifies under-capitalization of banks as the true cause of the financial meltdown. He points out, fairly, that there wasn...more

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Dec 30, 2010 William Breakstone rated it 5 of 5 stars

BOOK REVIEW

”The End of Wall Street”
by Roger Lowenstein, The Penguin Press, 2010

Reviewed by Bill Breakstone
Somers, New York, Tuesday, May 11 2010

Here is yet another chronicle of the 2008—2009 financial collapse. It is a thorough re-telling of the tragedy, and though much will be found repetitive by those who have read many of the other books on the subject (and there are plenty of them) it does offer some significant new insights or interpretations that other authors may have mentioned in passing...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Kathy Scantle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Of all of the financial crisis books I've read, The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein was by far the most comprehensive and informative. Lowenstein went in to just about every single aspect of the financial crisis including credit rating agencies, Fannie and Freddie, Lehman, leverage, capitalization, Bear Stearns, credit default swaps, deriviatives, CEOs, subprime mortgages, Wall St bonuses, politics, Geithner, Paulson, Bernanke, Greenspan, Congress, Citigroup, the TARP and on and on. This...more Of all of the financial crisis books I've read, The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein was by far the most comprehensive and informative. Lowenstein went in to just about every single aspect of the financial crisis including credit rating agencies, Fannie and Freddie, Lehman, leverage, capitalization, Bear Stearns, credit default swaps, deriviatives, CEOs, subprime mortgages, Wall St bonuses, politics, Geithner, Paulson, Bernanke, Greenspan, Congress, Citigroup, the TARP and on and on. This was the 5th book I've read about the financial meltdown and it the one that gave me the best run down of the crisis. I loved the book Too Big to Fail, but that read like a thriller and included all of the juicy gossip and scandals of the meltdown. 13 Bankers was way over my head as I felt I needed a finance class to understand it. The End of Wall Street put everything in an easy (well, pretty easy) to understand way. It also filled in the gaps for me about some parts of the financial crisis that I hadn't read about. Lowenstein reveals mistakes that people made but he doesn't dwell on the mistakes. As you read you will notice by the end how everyone has made serious errors on predicting and preventing the crisis. The author does this so that by the end the reader discovers that nobody had this right -- although some had it right some of the time. He did such a good job at this that he does not inflame the populist rage or take political sides. Lowenstein told the story of the financial crisis in a way that spoke "it is what it is," rather than being inflammatory. He did explain what he thought was an error of the TARP at the beginning, that is, that Paulson et al used the TARP to give liquidity to the banks, when Paulson and his team should have used the TARP to give capital to the banks. (Paulson and his team later did use the TARP to infuse capital into the banks.) As Lowenstein was describing how the market, or the capitalists who plied it were smart and developed many brilliant products, they had forgetton one thing: "Capitalism requires capital. No amount of leverage, not even record quantities of liquidity from the Federal Reserve, can obviate this need."(less)

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Aug 02, 2010 getAbstract rated it 5 of 5 stars

Start-to-finish exposé of what really happened to Wall Street

How did mortgage loans to not-quite-prime borrowers evolve into the engine of doom for Wall Street? Journalist and best-selling author Roger Lowenstein uncovers the root causes and the culmination of the 2008 financial debacle. He explains how loans to formerly unattractive clients brought out the best in Wall Street innovation and the worst in Wall Street greed. His behind-the-scenes look at the people involved, their backgrounds and...more

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Oct 31, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

The End of Wall Steet is is a very thorough and critical view of the events leading up to and through the 2008 meltdown. This is surprising both because of the pedigree of the author (WSJ) and because the book started out as almost a cliche FOX News criticism of Fannie/Freddie and the "evil" enablers Dodd and Frank. I don't know if that was Lowenstein's starting point and he evolved from it during the writing, or maybe he is "fair and balanced" in a way that is hard to recognize anymore... but a...more The End of Wall Steet is is a very thorough and critical view of the events leading up to and through the 2008 meltdown. This is surprising both because of the pedigree of the author (WSJ) and because the book started out as almost a cliche FOX News criticism of Fannie/Freddie and the "evil" enablers Dodd and Frank. I don't know if that was Lowenstein's starting point and he evolved from it during the writing, or maybe he is "fair and balanced" in a way that is hard to recognize anymore... but as the book progressed he expanded way past the GSE blame game. Other reviewers have done a great job in summarizing the book, so I'll leave it to them to outline the various themes and conclusions. But I will say that the strength of this book is the detail and clear explanation. The one weakness, for me, was the continual base-touching with the apparent guru Rodriguez, who somehow saw it all coming. Yet at the same time he always seemed to express the common sense that was sorely lacking in the frenzied and greedy players who shat up their own sandbox.

My one desire from this book was to see a clear statement of the necessary reforms so this never happens again. And Lowenstein does point out the problems and imply some solutions. But he isn't nearly as strident as I would like about calling for the guillotine to lop off heads or for republican regulators (note the little "r" in republican) to clean up the market. And does he really make the case that we have seen the end of Wall Street? No, alas, he shows Wall Street as having been somewhat humbled, but also accorded GSE type reassurances and TBTF status that previously only Fannie/Freddie enjoyed, and still there are no checks on executive compensation and greed. So Wall Street hasn't ended. It's still there, still running our government, and the crooks who trashed main street before are still rigging the game to their advantage.

One wonders if there isn't some dark, anti-faustian puppet master after all who pulls the strings of the world to prevent the possibility of good prevailing. What would the political and economic landscape look like now if only Elliot Spitzer and John Edwards had not been undermined by their private failings and could have been available to take up jobs in the Obama administration? What if Sheila Baer could have turned the ear of Paulsen or Geithner? Instead, the TV is once again blairing commercials for ARMS, reverse mortgages, and other seemingly predatory products. The solution you hear proposed to solve the mortgage and housing crisis is... to write more loans (not to fix the crap that's out there). Everyday some ideologue is repeating the now disproved "truth" that our nations ills can be solved by whithering government, lowering taxes on job creators, by LESS regulation. Has anyone in a position of power learned from the meltdown, from the tech bubble, from any other previous market reverses? Bankers and regulators like Paulsen and Geithner saved the system, but only so it can rape us all again another day. (less)

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Sep 11, 2012 Justin Evans rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-etc

A highly readable narrative of the conditions that led to the crash, the reactions (or non-reactions) of major business and governmental actors, and the mop-up operations that handed public money to private interests. I wish his 'afterword' had been a bit more detailed; for instance, it's 2012, we're in a world of record corporate profits (again) and stagnant wages (again), most economic indicators show us slipping into recession (again)- only this time the U.S. government is already in huge deb...more

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May 15, 2012 Bart rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a book that works best as a credible marker for the events that led to September 18, 2008. It is credible because its author - the man who wrote When Genius Failed - is held in justifiably high esteem. You read this work, in other words, for its conclusion.

There is little else in this book that breaks ground. Anyone who has read one or maybe two other books about the collapse of the free-market system in the fall of 2008 already knows the players and personalities. Even those who haven't...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Edward rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you followed the sub-prime mortgage debacle as it developed in the news, I suppose there's not a lot that's new here. But the characters (Greenspan, Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner, and a long list of others in the front of the book) who were principally involved in dealing with the banking crisis, are all put together into one narrative, and even though I didn't understand (who does? - highly questionable that many of our politicians did, or do) all of the technical financial language, the narr...more If you followed the sub-prime mortgage debacle as it developed in the news, I suppose there's not a lot that's new here. But the characters (Greenspan, Bernanke, Paulson, Geithner, and a long list of others in the front of the book) who were principally involved in dealing with the banking crisis, are all put together into one narrative, and even though I didn't understand (who does? - highly questionable that many of our politicians did, or do) all of the technical financial language, the narrative moved briskly along and even built up some suspense. At least, I found it captivating, even though I knew the outcome of this disaster which would culminate in 2008.
What went wrong with the financial markets? How could "smart" bankers engage in these speculative practices which were a throwback to the old boom-and-bust cycles of history? How could these managers of the economy bring about so much misery to so many ordinary people?
I think the book answers these questions pretty well. Lowenstein lays out Greenspan's vision of the markets as being a "Rousseauian vision of the markets as an untainted social organism, evolved from a state of nature", a view shared by many. Markets regulated themselves and had no need of government supervision. Everyone was making money, untrammeled by restrictive rules. The "new" economy was based on computer-driven models which failed to see any dangers. Leveraged funds, borrowed money loaned out to make even more money, were covered by risk insurance, so everyone was "safe". It was all a giant Ponzi scheme, but when people are making money (the public as well, using their homes as an inexhaustible source of income (inexhaustible as long as market values kept going up), little guys as well as bank executives, then everyone is happy in their world of self-delusion.
Lowenstein observes that there were no "checks and balances" in the banking industry, ironic as our government is loaded with "checks and balances" because the constitution writers feared the excesses of the so-called "common man". He is not be trusted, but in the financial markets, there were no effective "checks and balances". No controls were needed for the "common man" to become rich, using his house as a treasure chest.
But irony piled on irony - when the markets crashed, only one entity was big enough to bail out the banks and prevent a total seizure of the economy. When that happens, money flow stops, simply freezes up - house foreclosures, no retail transactions, no construction, no jobs, no growth - all because no one trusts anyone else any more to risk their money to someone else. Our society is based on trust, and when it's gone, it's a disaster.
This book convinced me that the bank bailouts were absolutely necessary, and despite their inconsistent and clumsy applications, without them, our economy would be in much worse shape. But what has happened, if I understand things correctly, is that the Wall Street debt, a private sector problem that affected all of us, was transferred to the public sector. The banks borrowed money to pay for the Ponzi bubble, and now the U.S. government has had to borrow to pay for the banks' mistakes. This is what has caused our debt crisis, not "extravagant" spending, as conservatives claim, but necessary spending to make up for our past financial market stupidity.
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Oct 16, 2011 George Bradford rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: america, m-o-n-e-y

If Wall Street is not working in the public's interest, why did the government bail it out?

How did Wall Street -- once primarily engaged in raising capital for industry, advising on mergers and selling stocks to the public -- migrate to casino style gambling activities with no conceivable social benefits? Why did the U.S. Government fail to identify and regulate Wall Street's serial risk binging? How did U.S. taxpayers get stuck with the tab for Wall Street's reckless greed?

Former Wall Street J...more If Wall Street is not working in the public's interest, why did the government bail it out?

How did Wall Street -- once primarily engaged in raising capital for industry, advising on mergers and selling stocks to the public -- migrate to casino style gambling activities with no conceivable social benefits? Why did the U.S. Government fail to identify and regulate Wall Street's serial risk binging? How did U.S. taxpayers get stuck with the tab for Wall Street's reckless greed?

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Roger Lowenstein answers these questions (and many more) in "The End of Wall Street". Lowenstein weaves his historical narrative of the events, personalities and institutions involved in 2008's economic collapse around Robert Rodriguez. In 2006 Mr. Rodriquez had over 20 years experience running a top performing stock fund and a highly rated bond fund for First Pacific Advisors. And from this vantage point Robert Rodriquez anticipated trouble earlier than most.

Lowenstein chronicles how and why Rodriquez distanced his clients from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2006, rid his bond portfolio of of "suspicious" mortgage-backed securities in early 2007, warned investors of an "absence of fear" in mid-2007 and saw that it would require capital (not just liquidity) to save the financial system in 2008.

But "The End of Wall Street" is not merely the story of one capitalist who foresaw disaster ahead. "The End of Wall Street" is much more.

All of the individual players (from Alan Greenspan to Barack Obama) are called to account. All of the institutions (from the Federal Reserve to Goldman Sachs) are here. And all the drama (from the government rescue of Bear Stearns, to its decision to let Lehman Brothers die, to the government's subsequent bailout of AIG, to its relentless efforts to broker mergers of tottering financial service behemoths and to its ultimate socialism -- making taxpayers shareholders of the nation's nine largest banks) is recounted in detail.

"The End of Wall Street" details the very real carnage visited on our nation as a result of 2008's economic collapse. The vanished jobs, the lost homes and the evaporated savings are merely the tip of iceberg. Government deficits (and defaults), a vulnerable dollar, financial insecurity and permanently high unemployment are here for the foreseeable future.

"The End of Wall Street" also asks questions that should trouble every citizen. Just which of Wall Street's activities, precisely, were so essential that they merited federal protection? If Wall Street is not working in the public's interest, why did the government bail it out? What part of Goldman Sachs is good for the country?

Roger Lowenstein's "The End of Wall Street" delivers the facts and allows you answer these questions for your self. And, in doing so, it is a good read. (less)

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Aug 13, 2011 Neal Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent dissection of the events and people that led to the 2008 economic collapse of Wall Street. Lowenstein maps out in plain, no-nonsense prose exactly what happened and who the culprits were. I found his writing style to be very easy to read as Lowenstein writes for the common person. In other words, you don't need to be a banker or posses an MBA degree to understand this book. Before reading this, I had no clue exactly what led to the financial crisis of '08, but after breezing through th...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Fernando rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked the book, especially how it is written (as opposed to what it said). The storyline is engaging and has some great anecdotes and insider insights. However, 85% of it I remember reading in the newspapers as the crisis was unfolding. It is nice to have it well put together in one single place though.

I also thought the last chapter was unnecessary. It was preachy and none of the conclusions followed from the story told in the book. The last chapter almost became a justification for the title...more

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May 22, 2010 Uwe Hook rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you want to get an overview of the reasons for the Great Recession: Get the book. If you've read the classics already: don't bother. I've read around 5 books about this important chapter of our history (more chapters are being added as we speak) and this books ranks very high. Paul Krugman's analysis is more analytical, Andrew Sorkin's more personal - Lowenstein's book is somehow in between

We have seen an inflation of books about this crisis and I believe this book should be one the last few...more

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Jun 28, 2011 Sean rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a solid analysis of why the 2008-2009 financial crash occurred. The author, much to his credit, eschews simple explanations. Rather, he lays out a litany of causes.

They are: an overabundance of faith that individuals and institutions will properly account for financial risk when attempting to invest; the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed commercial banks to speculate with their depositors' money; a willingness by lawmakers and regulators to overlook or disregard the moral...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Edward rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finance

This read was tough going for someone not familiar with the financial players in this epic overview of the subprime mortgage debacle of 2007-2008 and it is told from the perspective of these players of which there are slightly more than one hundred. Fortunately the author includes a cast of characters and their organizational accountabilities at the beginning of the book which can be helpful in keeping the reader straight on who’s who during the narrative. It would have been helpful to have incl...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Derek Cook rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who wants an overall understanding of the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

Shelves: wall-street, finance, government, economics, business

"The End of Wall Street" provided an excellent survey of the financial crisis of 2007-2008. The book does a very good job of tracing the roots of the crisis and explaining esoteric concepts such as mortgage securitization, CDOs, SIVs, credit default swaps, and other relevant financial instruments. This foundation allows you to follow the chain reaction of events that set the stage for the crisis and how the dominoes tumbled. I had a general idea of causes and events of the crisis but this book h...more

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Apr 01, 2011 Dan Schiff rated it 2 of 5 stars

A clinical, relatively bloodless recounting of the subprime mortgage bubble and resulting mess that infected Wall Street. Lowenstein's knack for detail is a plus, but he is more reporter than storyteller.

There's not much of a narrative here, and "character" development (since he lists an extensive "Cast of Characters" at the book's outset) is limited mostly to where an executive grew up, what his parents did, and how much he likes to golf. Attempts at color are few and largely unsatisfying. Do...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Gerard rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very good summary of the causes of the Great Recession -- makes complex financial concepts understandable, and illumnates the motivations of the various characters. It struck me as off that the author metioned Barney Frank three times. Never as an actor in the events unfolding, but in reminders that he was the leader of the House Financial Services Committee and a major booster of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These reminders are incongruous and seem if someone had dropped them in at the last mi...more

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Apr 06, 2010 Edward (saysmeow) rated it 2 of 5 stars

I didn't really like the book. It was hard for me, because non-fiction is just really hard for me. I found myself rereading some passages to get what they are talking about. It was alright to me...

This book talked about how Roger traces the steps and missteps that led to the financial crisis of 2008. He mainly focuses on the major players of the financial crisis (government, treasury, and financial institutions), but does not focus on the crisis affecting on average, normal people.

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Jan 24, 2011 Mariellen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very well written. The book starts right before the subprime market began to unravel and goes through the day-by-day decisions as the crisis was unfolding. The focus is on the Wall Street business leaders and the top policy makers in Washington(Paulson, Bernanke and Geithner). The arrogance of the Wall Street players, many of whom refused to believe that their companies were in trouble or that the crisis would last, was astounding.

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May 18, 2013 Chin Joo rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first book by Lowenstein that I read was When Genius Failed. I enjoyed it very much, but it was probably something I read some 10 years ago. The author is still an engaging one to read, but I'm a bit more conscious of his tone and the direction against which he leaned. I'm therefore more cautious about things he said and how he tried to persuade his readers.

Still, this book is an informative and enjoyable one to read. Ironically, last week's issue of The Economist has a prominent header - Wa...more

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Jan 14, 2012 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Veeeeeery detailed book about the two or three years preceding and including the financial crash. Lowenstein either really knows what he's talking about or is very convinced that he does. Either way this is good reading. He broke the crisis down for the average Joe and tried to humanize it. I almost give this four stars but in the end I was skeptical he really knew everyone's motivations white as well as he purports.

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Nov 20, 2010 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well this beat's Sowell's "Housing Boom and Bust" book with a baseball bat. Makes Sowell look like a propagandist. Lowenstein does a good job of making you feel like you had a front row seat of the unfolding crisis and the reactions at the top. I think it takes a number of different perspectives to get a good understanding of the whole thing and this book is a good one to include in the mix.

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Aug 20, 2010 Jay rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook

Given the length and focus of this book, it reads like a battle history book, with mostly chronological recounting of the events and the large number of players involved in the recent financial collapse. I appreciated the analysis of how these events marked a major change in how the world operates.

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Jun 10, 2010 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: business-books

A big picture look at the 2008 crash. Lowenstein puts the whole process in the perspective of the last 40 years of economic history and then focuses on the dramatic 8 weeks or so in 2008 when Paulson, Bernanke, et. al. worked to save the world's economy.

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Jul 18, 2010 Corny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This is a coherent explanation of how the recent market crisis arose. The first half of the book is partiularly impressive detailing the bungling of oversight, the ease with which bond ratings were obtained and the general greed of the market makers. Greenspan comes in for the most criticism but no one is left unscathed except perhaps Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase.
The second half of the book is more a day by day description of the crtiical moments of the crisis in 2008 and early 2009. Lowenste...more

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Mar 24, 2011 Ethan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Maybe I've just read too many books on the crisis, but this one seemed to do a lot of rehashing without bringing anything new to the table. Less technical than All the Devils and not as exciting as Too Big to Fail.

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May 21, 2013 Ian Hardouin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Would rate it 3.5 stars if I could. Detailed account of Wall Street in the mid-late 2000s. This book needs a sequel to cover the events of the 2010s. It covers through the end of 2009. Hope he is writing it.

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