Panic!: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity

by Michael Lewis (Editor)

Overview

The New York Times bestseller: A masterful account of today’s money culture, showing how the underpricing of risk leads to catastrophe.

When it comes to markets, the first deadly sin is greed. In this New York Times bestseller, Michael Lewis is our jungle guide through five of the most violent and costly upheavals in recent financial history. With his trademark humor and brilliant anecdotes, Lewis paints the mood and market factors leading up to each event, weaves contemporary accounts to show what people thought was happening at the time, and, with the luxury of hindsight, analyzes what actually happened and what we should have learned from experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393337983
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/02/2009
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	263,290
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, The Undoing Project, and The Fifth Risk. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his family.

Date of Birth:

October 15, 1960

Place of Birth:

New Orleans, LA

Education:

Princeton University, B.A. in Art History, 1982; London School of Economics, 1985

Editorial Reviews

"It’s hard to imagine a more timely book."

BusinessWeek

"In this enlightening (and frightening) anthology, the Moneyball and Liar’s Poker author collects the best reporting and analysis of every Wall Street crisis of the past twenty years. As a source of aid in these troubled times, the book’s only competition is a bottle of Scotch."

Details

…an anthology of work by Mr. Lewis and many others rather than a single narrative, and in some ways that structure is liberating. By drawing on pre-existing journalism, Mr. Lewis…need not feign naivete to capture the conditions leading up to this and each successive money meltdown. Nor need he pretend to be surprised at the paucity of useful lessons that these crises have brought. Though he only edited Panic…Mr. Lewis has thoroughly invested himself in presenting its stories. Some of his own work is excerpted here. And he has written illuminating introductions to the book's separate sections.
—The New York Times

Janet Maslin

Lewis (Liar's Poker) takes readers on a spin through notable recent financial catastrophes including the stock market's 1987 crash, the Russian default and related failure of hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, the Asian currency crisis, the Internet bust and the recent subprime debacle. While the collection is comprehensive and contains varied and learned commentary, the presented crises beg for more thorough treatment. Lewis is content to rehash the past with (undeniably compelling) previously published analysis by the likes of economists Joseph Stieglitz and Paul Krugman and Wall Street Journal reporters Gregory Zuckerman and Roger Lowenstein. The author wisely includes excerpts from his books and articles, including an account of his time as a trader at Salomon Brothers in the midst of the junk bond crash of 1987 and his observations on the Internet boom and bust. The narrative is certainly elegant and the arguments are on-target; the author lambastes shoddy risk management at financial firms, the "foolish principles that have guided the behavior of sophisticated Wall Street traders" and the common man in this current crisis, and the problems caused "by the new complexities of the financial markets," but readers seeking serious solutions to our current woes will be disappointed. (Jan.)

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Publishers Weekly

Lewis (Liar's Poker) has compiled an anthology of articles related to five major financial crises in recent decades: the 1987 stock market crash, the Russian default, the Asian currency crisis, the Internet bubble and, most recently, the subprime mortgage collapse (the final article included is from January 2008). For each crisis, Lewis offers articles from journals, books, transcripts, and newspapers, all written immediately before, during, or after the event. He provides an introduction to each group of articles on a specific crisis and analyzes the crisis in hindsight. Articles included are from such estimable writers as Paul Krugman, Tim Metz, Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Shiller, Lester C. Thurow, and Gregory Zuckerman, with Lewis's own articles appearing as well. He also provides biographies of the contributors and a glossary of terms. Timely and highly readable, this work includes in one accessible source two decades' worth of some of the best writing on the various crises and panics. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ8/08.]
—Lucy Heckman

Library Journal

Not for the beginner in financial literacy, this volume pulls apart the subprime financial crisis in highly technical and detailed terms. The effect of moving among five voices—with changes in gender, pitch, pace, tone, and emphasis—is an interesting and engaging title that might otherwise overwhelm the listener. David Chandler, James Jenner, and Johnny Heller have a gritty edge to their readings of the crash of markets, which will assuage the anger many feel toward the decisions made on Wall Street. Ruth Ann Phimister is more nasal and perky in recounting facts; Kevin Orton gives the impression of a young and earnest financier. The combined effect is a big-picture interpretation of the limited vision behind many of the theories and scurrilous actions underpinning various trends in the stock market and the resulting downward spiral. M.R. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2009 - AudioFile