A Colossal Failure of Common Sense
Lawrence McDonaldThe inside, untold story of the collapse of Lehman Brothers
They’re the trillion-dollar questions of the financial crisis: What the hell happened at Lehman Brothers? And why was it allowed to fail? In this astonishing book, Larry McDonald, a former Lehman vice president, gives us the straight answers at last – right from the belly of the beast.
As he rises from a housing project to the New York HQ of Lehman Brothers, home of one of the world’s toughest trading floors, McDonald sees it all. The Wall Street we encounter is a ruthless place, where brilliance, arrogance, ambition and greed combine in a potent mix that fuels prosperity but occasionally destroys it.
We meet those at the top, whose reckless, pedal-to-the-floor addiction to growth finally demolished America’s oldest investment bank. And we get a close-up view of those who saw it coming with a helpless, angry certainty.
The story of Lehman’s death spiral is a modern-day thriller, studded with incredible characters, dramatic confrontations, insider meetings and remarkable revelations. It was a devastating blow to the world’s financial system. And it need not have happened.
This is the gripping story of why it did.
