The Great Hangover: 21 Tales of the New Recession from the Pages of Vanity Fair – A Journalism Collection on the Financial Crisis

by Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter

A collection of stories from Vanity Fair magazine about the current financial crisis by some of the country’s best business journalists, including Michael Lewis ( Moneyball, Liar’s Poker ), Bryan Burrough ( Barbarians at the Gate ), and Mark Bowden ( Black Hawk Down ), edited by Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, and with an introduction by Cullen Murphy ( Are We Rome? ).

Genres: Nonfiction, Finance, Economics, Essays

480 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010

Reviews

[Mark Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the past year-and-a-half I've tried to understand what, exactly, happened to our economy in 2008, and though I picked up some useful information from a few select podcasts, radio shows, and newspaper articles, I could never quite get the pieces together in my mind.

This book cleared up almost all of the questions I had, and for that I would have given it 3 stars. The fact that almost all of the essays are well-written, engaging, focused on the personalities involved, and clear enough on the basics that I didn't get lost would have been worth 4 stars. The 5-star rating I DID give it is for all of the above AND the section of essays devoted strictly to Bernie Madoff, which was hilarious, tragic, exciting, mysterious, and really just fun to read.

If you aren't down for reading something this lengthy about the economy (though I don't think you'd be disappointed) I recommend at least picking and choosing a few articles, notably the one on Paulson, the one on Iceland, the one on Bear Stearns, and all of the Madoff Chronicles. A great read.

[David]

Contains Wall Street on the Tundra as quoted below.
Because Iceland is really just one big family, it’s simply annoying to go around asking Icelanders if they’ve met Björk. Of course they’ve met Björk; who hasn’t met Björk? Who, for that matter, didn’t know Björk when she was two? “Yes, I know Björk,” a professor of finance at the University of Iceland says in reply to my question, in a weary tone. “She can’t sing, and I know her mother from childhood, and they were both crazy. That she is so well known outside of Iceland tells me more about the world than it does about Björk.”

[Mark Desrosiers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lost count after the seventh appearance of the word "schadenfreude" in these essays -- really, that's the tone of this collection, and why I enjoyed it thoroughly. Some of the essays here are duds -- a history-spanning puff piece by Niall Ferguson probably the worst offender, though Mark Seal's overstabbing of the Madoff empire's corpse (in three separate articles) also became very tedious. However, Michael Lewis is astounding and hilarious in his reports on AIG and Iceland, and Joseph E. Stiglitz contributes a succinct breakdown of the steps that caused our collapse, beginning with Reagan's firing of Paul Volcker in 1987. This being Vanity Fair, the great reporting is often spiced with nasty gossip, and there's no sympathy for these parasites anywhere. Bernie Madoff (plus sons and wife), as noted above, get an especially vicious kicking three times over, though through all the gossip and background I still don't comprehend at all how he got away with his shit for so long.

Strongly recommended, though I with Vanity Fair could have ponied up some cash to include lots of the photos that accompanied the original published articles.

[Carlito · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally got to reading this book, although it's been wating for me for years.

Excellent stories and a very engaging read from the pages of Vanity Fair on financial and economy crisis of 2008/09.

It would be even more interesting to have some kind of recent collection on how the things went in the meantime, and to see if the predictions from some of those past stories on future of finance and economy came true and in what way.

However, as I've been reading Vanity Fair pretty regularly for the last few years, I don't think a new collection would be possible. Although it still has great business and finance stories from time to time, it's pretty far from the kind of articles that appeared half a dozen years ago and which are collected in this book.

k.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's best feature is it's array of writers and the short punchy essays, however that is also it's weaker points. Unfortunately, the book starts of strongly, but it ends so poorly - almost falling into the standard Vanity Fair stereotype.

There are some outstanding essays - Michael Lewis (as always) and Bryan Burrough, if the collection had more like this it would easily be 5 stars.

The collection rapidly degenerates in Part Four: The Madoff Chronicles - where the articles appear no more than gossip without hard journalism. Finally, the last essay is the worst in the book - degenerating into social sniping and salacious rumours.

Read selectively.

[Phoebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really good and totally suspenseful even though it's magazine reporting and thus somewhat out-of-date (nothing is inaccurate, I'm guessing, but we know a lot more now, to our horror). It's a really fast read, even if you don't skip the NY Times chapter because it made you sad the first time and the Harvard chapter because you can't be compelled to care again.

[Steve]

planet money michael lewis vanity fair

[Dave Cornford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading, moslty accessable to non-financial types.

[Vidhu Shekhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome books. Lewis tells the story from the ground of the countries mired in the recession. Would love to do such kind of travel :).

[Magda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great compilation of the different aspects of the events of the 2008 recession.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some very good journalism. But if you are looking for an central thesis that the whole book argues, you will be disappointed. It's a collection of articles.