The Murder of Lehman Brothers: An Insider's Look at the Global Meltdown

by Joseph Tibman

The Murder of Lehman Brothers sheds light on the perfect, complex storm that led to Lehman's collapse and the ensuing global consequences. It includes a brief history of Lehman, highlighting certain notable events, including a previous near collapse, the rise of Richard Fuld and the one-firm culture, the repeated mistakes made by providers of credit, inventing new financings--rationalizing that while profitable, these risky endeavors are actually not risky, more specifically subprime mortgages and Lehman's role, as well as an internal battle over Lehman's embrace of a massive real estate book, the emergence of Lehman as a top tier firm, the unraveling that began with the subprime meltdown, and gained vigor with the fall of Bear, and the consequences of Lehman's fall.

Genres: Business, History, Economics

245 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Joseph Tibman]

I wrote this, so of course I think it's pretty good

[Phil Mackie]

This is an insider account written under a pseudonym, so avoids autobiographical detail that could identify the author. It covers broadly the period from Bobbie Lehman's death to the acquisition by Barclays. The author proudly declares himself to be a capitalist, but at times his arguments are reminiscent of leave voters, still maintaining that Brexit was a good idea, poorly executed. It has some useful insights, and is accessible to the general reader. But is is clear that he places a lot of the blame on the Federal Reserve for not rescuing Lehman.

[Cristobal Soto]

El libro no es malo, tiene mucho detalle, lo que a veces lo hace denso y otras se agradece. Me queda difícil de recomendar por eso le pongo 3 estrellas solamente.

[Tom]

I read this because it seemed to have the best reviews of the recent Lehman books. But it wasn't as good as I expected: the author is an investment banker as opposed to a fixed-income specialist, so I didn't receive the expected insights regarding particular reasons for the firm's collapse. Non-Wall Streeters may like the book, though, as it's very good about defining/explaining Street jargon.

[Matthew]

Largely inconsequential book. Nice history of Lehman Brothers firm. Perhaps because it is 3 years since, but the financial meltdown account was largely uninformative.

[Stuart]

A detailed inside account of the implosion of Lehman Brothers. Covers similar territory as other books about the financial crisis.

[P]

Dangers of a one man show.