Table of Contents
Introduction vii
1 A Bank for the Treasury Secretary 1
2 When Failure Was Allowed (Because Government Wasn't Big Enough to Help) 10
3 City of Instability 22
4 Astor to the Rescue 32
5 Taylor's Bank in an Age of Panics 44
6 The Rockefeller Bank 58
7 A Political "Big Shot" 71
8 A City Banker Helps Create the Fed 85
9 "Our Friendly Monster" Goes Global 95
10 "Sunshine Charlie" Doubles Down on Sugar 107
11 Mitchell and the Mania 121
12 Did City Bank Cause the Crash? 144
13 Bank for the United States 171
14 Walter Wriston and the Culture of Risk 180
15 Not That Big, but Too Big to Fail? 193
16 When Countries Fail 207
17 The Banker Who "Never Made a Loan" 221
18 Just Another Perfect Storm 233
19 Creating the Next Crisis 252
20 The Man Who Knew Too Little 274
21 "Save Citigroup At All Costs" 287
Epilogue 307
Acknowledgments 309
Notes 313
Index 353