Drawing on exclusive access to J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and a tightly bonded team of bankers known on Wall Street as the "Morgan Mafia"—as well as in-depth interviews with dozens of other key players, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner—Gillian Tett brings to life in gripping detail how the Morgan team's bold ideas for a whole new kind of financial alchemy helped to ignite a revolution in banking, and how that revolution escalated wildly out of control. The deeply reported and lively narrative takes readers behind the scenes, to the inner sanctums of elite finance and to the secretive reaches of what came to be known as the "shadow banking" world. The story begins with the intense Morgan brainstorming session in 1994 beside a pool in Boca Raton, where the team cooked up a dazzling new idea for the exotic financial product known as credit derivatives. That idea would rip around the banking world, catapult Morgan to the top of the turbocharged derivatives trade, and fuel an extraordinary banking boom that seemed to have unleashed banks from ages-old constraints of risk. But when the Morgan team's derivatives dream collided with the housing boom and was perverted—through hubris, delusion, and sheer greed—by such titans of banking as Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and the thundering herd at Merrill Lynch (even as J.P. Morgan itself stayed well away from the risky concoctions others were peddling), catastrophe followed. Tett's access to Dimon and the J.P. Morgan leaders who so skillfully steered their bank away from the wild excesses of others sheds invaluable light not only on the untold story of how they engineered their bank's escape from carnage but also on how possible it was for the larger banking world, regulators, and rating agencies to have spotted, and heeded, the terrible risks of a meltdown. A tale of blistering brilliance and willfully blind ambition, Fool's Gold is both a rare journey deep inside the arcane and wildly competitive world of high finance and a vital contribution to understanding how the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression was perpetrated.
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"Really interesting book that recounts some of the origins of the present crisis. Especially interesting because Gillian Tett is an anthropologist and in her epilogue roots the problem in 'social silence' which she connects to dominate elites taking over all discourse so that their elite machinations seem like normality. This is a profound insight (and a rather radical insight coming from a Financial Times columnist!) and one hopes she will write a book about this too. Though this book is technical in parts about financial instruments, she knows how to tell a good story and make it memorable." — Ed (5 out of 5 stars)
"Really interesting book that recounts some of the origins of the present crisis. Especially interesting because Gillian Tett is an anthropologist and in her epilogue roots the problem in 'social silence' which she connects to dominate elites taking over all discourse so that their elite machinations seem like normality. This is a profound insight (and a rather radical insight coming from a Financial Times columnist!) and one hopes she will write a book about this too. Though this book is technical in parts about financial instruments, she knows how to tell a good story and make it memorable."
The author excels at recreating this fevered environment. She also deciphers Wall Street mumbo-jumbo in terms that a lay reader...can understand.
" Great read, easy, fast paced and informative. Recommend to anybody who wants to understand the recent financial crisis and how it happened. "
" A very interesting read, with lots of details and a good flow; however, Tett's writing doesn't allow for the drama to come through, like in other contemporary business (failure) books. Worth a read. "
" This book, recommended to me by a money manger, is an excellent history and analysis of how we landed in the mess we are in. It gives a clear explanation of the financial instruments that were at the heart of the crisis and explains how and why the road to hell was paved with good and smart intentions. I don't think you can come away without believing that completely unregulated capitalism usually leads to disaster. "
" Most of what Ms Tett writes is worth reading. This is. "
" I didn't have the book with me when I added it. It is on my Kindle so I don't know what the cover looks like. It is not the book above. The Fool's Gold I read is a mystery romance novel by a different author. "
" If you are interested in what led up to the last finance crisis, this is probably one of the best books written, Financial Times columnist Tett offers a thorough analysis written in a biographical style with great style and insight. "
" The best explanation of the CDS/CDO mess and a good story on JP Morgan & friends. Highly recommended. "
" half way thru best intro to what happened on wall street "
" If you want to acquaint yourself with the growth of the Derivatives market that provided the framework through which greed and hubris wrecked the global economy, then this is the book to read. Easily understandable and comprehensive. "
" gave a good picture of hedging and risk dispersal via credit default swaps "
" An insightful unraveling of the Great financial crisis by an award winning FT editor who also happens to hold a PhD in social anthropology! "
" Fool's Gold manages to explain the financial crisis in plain terms while still spinning a gripping story. Beyond amazing! "
" An excellent summation of a financial world gone mad. "
" Detailed overview of the root causes of the financial crisis (one that doesn't insult this reader's intelligence). A bit too focused on J.P. Morgan (an institution that has survived the crisis relatively unscathed). "
" Blame the workman not the tool. "
" Actually made me feel sorry for the Lehmans bankers. A pacy insider's account of the Grand Clusterf*ck. In the end, it all came down to hideously complicated mathematics and simple greed. And it will all happen again. *Sigh*. "
" Strong on the development of credit derivatives and their eventual role in the crisis. "
" Great dissection of the recent financial crash, from the center of the debacle. "
Gillian Tett, journalist and author, oversees global coverage of the financial markets for the London Financial Times, the world’s leading newspaper covering finance and business. In 2007 she was awarded the Wincott prize, the premier British award for financial journalism, and in 2008 was named British Business Journalist of the Year. She has a PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge University and speaks regularly at conferences around the world on finance and global markets.
Stephen Hoye has worked as a professional actor in London and Los Angeles for more than thirty years. Trained at Boston University and the Guildhall in London, he has acted in television series and six feature films and has appeared in London’s West End. His audiobook narration has won him fifteen AudioFile Earphones Awards.
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