Book Review: Dark Towers by David Enrich by

Published in 2020. The subtitle of this book is “Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction.” The book begins with the epic trail of destruction and a history of the bank.Although it is a German bank, it has had a lot of dealings in the United States. The trail was bad, dealing with shady characters with poor finances, but it got worse when the Bank hired Edson Mitchell, an American banker. To improve the bank’s finances as well as his own pocket, he brought in the idea of derivatives. It was actually a form of gambling on the markets and it was addictive. The rest of Wall Street was doing it as well, so it must be all right, but it wasn’t. Bill Broeksmit was Edson’s best friend and most trusted advisor, managed to put the reins on some of the deals but not all. Even after Mitchell’s untimely death in an airplane crash, the bank continued down a destructive path that it is still trying to recover from.

The second part of the book deals with Bill Broeksmit’s adopted son, Val, who was trying to find out why his father committed suicide. He didn’t seem to have any emotional issues and wasn’t seeing someone on the side. Was it his job? It turned out to be yes.

Donald Trump is in the book because of his multiple dealings with the bank. Even though he had the reputation for not paying back loans, the bank loaned him even more. Why?

After reading this book, I wondered how Deutsche bank could remain in business. The answer is clear. Not only is Donald Trump protecting it—it’s in his own best interest, but the German government is also protecting it—it can’t afford to let it fail. The Russian oligarchs also need to keep it in operation so they can continue laundering money. And all those traders who’ve made fortunes and bought influence. They can’t let it go under either without taking them with it. It’s become a bank too big to fail, but when it does, it will rock the financial markets around the world.