Book Description
A grand and revelatory portrait of Wall Street’s most storied investment bank
Wall Street investment banks move trillions of dollars a year, make billions in fees, pay their executives in the tens of millions of dollars. But even among the most powerful firms, Lazard Frères & Co. stood apart. Discretion, secrecy, and subtle strategy were its weapons of choice. For more than a century, the mystique and reputation of the "Great Men" who worked there allowed the firm to garner unimaginable profits, social cachet, and outsized influence in the halls of power. But in the mid-1980s, their titanic egos started getting in the way, and the Great Men of Lazard jeopardized all they had built.
William D. Cohan, himself a former high-level Wall Street banker, takes the reader into the mysterious and secretive world of Lazard and presents a compelling portrait of Wall Street through the tumultuous history of this exalted and fascinating company. Cohan deconstructs the explosive feuds between Felix Rohatyn and Steve Rattner, superstar investment bankers and pillars of New York society, and between the man who controlled Lazard, the inscrutable French billionaire Michel David-Weill, and his chosen successor, Bruce Wasserstein.
Cohan follows Felix, the consummate adviser, as he reshapes corporate America in the 1970s and 1980s, saves New York City from bankruptcy, and positions himself in New York society and in Washington. Felix’s dreams are dashed after the arrival of Steve, a formidable and ambitious former newspaper reporter. By the mid-1990s, as Lazard neared its 150th anniversary, Steve and Felix were feuding openly.
The internal strife caused by their arguments could not be solved by the imperious Michel, whose manipulative tendencies served only to exacerbate the trouble within the firm. Increasingly desperate, Michel took the unprecedented step of relinquishing operational control of Lazard to one of the few Great Men still around, Bruce Wasserstein, then fresh from selling his own M&A boutique, for $1.4 billion. Bruce’s take: more than $600 million. But it turned out Great Man Bruce had snookered Great Man Michel when the Frenchman was at his most vulnerable.
The LastTycoons is a tale of vaulting ambitions, whispered advice, worldly mistresses, fabulous art collections, and enormous wealth—a story of high drama in the world of high finance.
Customer Reviews:
Oh, the memories.......2007-07-27
This book brought back so many memories of the time (late eighties/early nineties) and place. Looking back while reading this book, I realize how much I learned about people and industry while working in investment
banking (albeit a bit remotely) in NYC in those years. The level of detail
that Bill Cohan brings to the topic of Lazard is noteworthy. It's a fun
read for insiders and non-insiders alike. I hope things are better for
women now - my daughter wants to be an investment banker when she grows up!
A great book for "warped" people (like myself)!.......2007-06-11
660+ pages about the 150+ year history of Lazard Feres might put most people to sleep. Not me! As someone who actually likes this stuff, I found this book fascinating. The history of big money and finance is actually one of big personalties, and this book gives an inside look at several of the major players. Although tedious at times to read, I made it through the entire book in a couple of days. The most fascinating part of the entire story is simply that money at the levels discussed in this book doesn't seem real--most people could never fathom how corporate finance is conducted. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject of investment banking, especially those considering a career in that arena.
Long but worth it.......2007-05-30
extremely long, but it gives you a great description of how an organization rises and falls with the times and the great men who are at the wheel.
Destined to be a Classic.......2007-05-24
Cohan has brought to life a vivid and spellbinding tale of the legendary giants in the investment banking field (Meyer, Rohatyn, David-Weill, Rattner, and Wasserstein) at Lazard, offering a compelling and revealing portrait of the relentless personalities that invented, dominated and defined the last few decades of M&A banking. At the same time, The Last Tycoons is, at its core, a saga of ambition, egotism, greed, vanity and pride of Shakespearean proportions played out on the grand stage of corporate takeovers and national politics.
What emerges is not a noble picture of what these ostensibly "Great Men" purported themselves to be. Instead, it is apparent that at Lazard, the black arts of power and greed were the currency used to exhort and extort men of high ambition and intellect to achieve stature and enormous fees. The long shadow of Andre Meyer (unquestionably a Sith Lord) looms over the Lazard partnership and his protégés and successors, Felix Rohatyn and Michel David-Weill. Meyer was a brilliant financier with no peer with the exception of Bruce Wasserstein and it's fitting and deserving that the story of Lazard begins and ends with these two men. In between, Michel and Felix weave a complex and fascinating legacy of fear and loathing in the intervening decades.
For bankers and professionals in the field, Cohan's detail and emotional and psychological nuances will be tantalizing and relevant. For those aspiring to enter the field, it's a cautionary tale - it's very hard to play on the big stage on Wall St without darkening your soul. This story is destined to be a Classic amongst Barbarians and Den of Thieves
barbarians at the gates of central park .......2007-05-19
maybe the first casualty of wealth is self-knowledge. that is the takeaway from William Cohan's fine history of the fabled lazard freres banking house. in these pages we watch titans of finance gloat and preen while their castle crumbles from corruption and mismanagement.
Its a terrific story peopled with fascinating characters. who wouldn't, after reading this book, want to dine with the formidable felix rohatyn. He fled the Nazis as a boy, rescued New York from financial ruin and ditched Lazard at just the right moment to serve the nation as Bill Clinton's Ambassador to France. His intellect and achievement dominate the book, just as Felix dominated wall street for a generation. His departure from the firm caps the end of "the great man" era in investment banking. In Rohatyn's day only a select handful of wise men could be trusted to guide transactions. Nowadays all you need is armani and a spread sheet.
Even as he maps the tectonic movement in investment banking, Cohan keeps it light with plenty of well-researched dish on criminal investigations, love affairs, fabulous art collections, New Yorkana and the occasional drop to earth by some of Lazard's wax-winged partners. I closed the book -- a whopping 750 pp's -- edified and thoroughly entertained.
Amazon.com
A graduate of Duke University in 2002 and an analyst for J.P. Morgan for a few years after that, Dana Vachon is a writing wunderkind along the lines of Jay McInerney in Bright Lights, Big City and Bret Easton Ellis in Less Than Zero. However, the similarity ends with the theme of young guys on the razzle, because Vachon's protagonist, unlike his predecessors, observes and learns without falling into the honey pot. Tommy Quinn graduates from Georgetown and lands a job with J.S. Spenser, an investment banking firm. His major was Interdisciplinary Studies, a kind of Liberal Arts wastebasket, and he knows nothing about finance. In the brain-deadening Spenser training program he hooks up with Roger Thorne, a really crass human being, but one who knows all the moves. The genesis of the friendship sets the tone rather well: They are both wearing Gucci loafers and Rolex watches.
The story begins at Roger's engagement party, with Tommy waiting for his erstwhile girlfriend Frances to arrive. Everyone thinks that she has been at a spa, but she has really been in an upscale Home for the Unsure, being ministered to by a freaky shrink. The story then moves backward through Tommy's ruminations about meeting Roger, "the John Audubon of preppy flesh," and about connecting with Terence Mathers, Spenser's guru of mergers and acquisitions. At the end of Mathers's first speech to the new Spenserites, Tommy says: "We had all partaken of the capitalist Kool-Aid and the applause was as much a tribute to the stupidity of young men and women after four years of elite education as it was to the success of Spenser's training program." Greed is definitely good in this atmosphere--the more the better--but Tommy is not really a full-fledged participant. After Tommy blows his first assignment, he and Roger are sent to Cabo San Lucas on a major deal. What happens there is life-threatening and hilariously over-the-top but perfectly plausible and moves Tommy to rethink his life path. Vachon has left his own fledgling financial career behind, and instead has written a first-rate first novel that is smart, funny, witty, and wise. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
A stylish and hilarious novel about the lives and loves of well-to-do young Manhattanites in their first year on Wall Street, destined to become one of the year's most buzzed-about debuts.
Mergers & Acquisitions is the story of Tommy Quinn, a recent Georgetown grad who has just landed the job of his dreams as an investment banker at J. S. Spenser, and the perfect girl, Frances Sloan, the daughter of one of New York's oldest moneyed families. As he travels from the most exclusive ball rooms of the Racquet and Tennis Club to the stuffiest boardrooms of J. S. Spenser, from the golf links of Piping Rock to the bedrooms of Park Avenue, and from the debauched yacht of a Mexican billionaire to the Ritalin-strewn prep-school dorm room of his younger brother, he finds that the job and the girl are not what they once seemed.
Sharply written, fast-paced, and bitingly witty, Mergers & acquisitions is a compulsively readable story of Manhattan's young, ambitious, and wealthy. Set against the backdrop of money, lust, power, corruption, cynicism, energy, and excitement that is Wall Street, it is suffused with an authenticity that only an author who lives in that world can provide. A former investment banker at J. P. Morgan, Vachon offers an insider's point of view on the financial scene, and he knows the moneyed turf of Manhattan inside out.
Customer Reviews:
A light read.......2007-09-01
I did enjoy this book, but I wish the author had written a few more chapters on actually working in the office of J.S.Spenser. The author does have a comic way of writing, I liked the part where the main chararter converted the US dollar into itself! I also liked how the book was written, it started in the present at his friend's engagment, then the next chapters where in the past and the last chapter was at the engagment party. Though I did find the main character's girlfriend a bit disturbing.
Hilarious and Brilliant!.......2007-08-04
A comic romp dealing with the financial world and early employment after college. Some passages are so funny, I laughed out loud! The characters, even though seemingly over the top at times, ring true, and present archetypes that are unforgettable. The romantic plot line is heartfelt and also has a profound feeling of felt life. I look forward to more novels by this remarkable talent!
Excellent Effort-Mixed Results.......2007-07-07
The book starts out great, but then it fades off the map. It is similar to Hemingway's -To Have and Have Not-. Since I have worked on The Street, and I am a writer, my hopes were very high. However, I have not been able to finish the book.
The author has some talent, and I wish him luck.
fear and loathing in park-on-lexington.......2007-07-05
I can't believe the dichotomy in the reviews of this book! It's either the best book ever written, or the worst. For my part, I'll give it 3 stars...an enjoyable read that was light-hearted and fun...an entertaining mind-candy romp, but certainly not a 5-star classic. It was exactly what I expected going in to it, and it delivered.
I really wasn't keen on Roger Thorpe's character, though. He was the most colorful character in the book; and as much of a slime he was, I think he could have been more realistic, and yet taken the character further into slimedom with his unique ability to slide through life despite his incompetence. But the "dudes" and "babes" made him more of a sixteen-year-old punk skater rather than the uppercrust moneyed college grad he was. I may be missing the point, but I would have enjoyed an underlying "knowing" of "not knowing" in his attitude...and accidental tourist, per se.
I will say this, however...I relish the thought of the book being re-written: but instead of Tommy Quinn narrating, Hunter S Thompson steps into the role. As I read the book, I kept wondering just how far out-of-hand Tommy's situations could truly have gotten with Gonzo at the wheel. I kept waiting for Fear and Loathing on Wall Street, but all I got was Mergers and Acquisitions. Perhaps Vachon's next book...?
Still, I highly recommend it. Pour yourself a Sapphire and Xanax (or three) and finish the book in one sitting. Enjoy!
How fun!.......2007-06-14
As a Wharton MBA who has observed this scene for 20+ years, I found this book to be an over the top spoof of high finance and NYC society. If one were pitching it as a movie, I would say it is The Great Gatsby meets Catcher in the Rye meets Bright Lights, Big City. A great, light read that had me laughing out loud! Enjoy!
Amazon.com
It began with a simple $27 loan. After witnessing the cycle of poverty that kept many poor women enslaved to high-interest loan sharks in Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Yunus lent money to 42 women so they could purchase bamboo to make and sell stools. In a short time, the women were able to repay the loans while continuing to support themselves and their families. With that initial eye-opening success, the seeds of the Grameen Bank, and the concept of microcredit, were planted.
After earning a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Yunus returned to Bangladesh to settle into a life as a professor. But a famine in 1974 ravaged the country, leading Dr. Yunus to alter his thinking and his life profoundly: "What good were all my complex theories when people were dying of starvation on the sidewalks and porches across from my lecture hall?.... Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me." Armed with little more than a lofty dream to end the suffering around him, he started an experimental microcredit enterprise in 1977; by 1983 the Grameen Bank was officially formed.
The idea behind the Grameen Bank is ingeniously simple: extend credit to poor people and they will help themselves. This concept strikes at the root of poverty by specifically targeting the poorest of the poor, providing small loans (usually less than $300) to those unable to obtain credit from traditional banks. At Grameen, loans are administered to groups of five people, with only two receiving their money up front. As soon as these two make a few regular payments, loans are gradually extended to the rest of the group. In this way, the program builds a sense of community as well as individual self-reliance. Most of the Grameen Bank's loans are to women, and since its inception, there has been an astonishing loan repayment rate of over 98 percent.
Banker to the Poor is an inspiring memoir of the birth of microcredit, written in a conversational tone that makes it both moving and enjoyable to read. The Grameen Bank is now a $2.5 billion banking enterprise in Bangladesh, while the microcredit model has spread to over 50 countries worldwide, from the U.S. to Papua New Guinea, Norway to Nepal. Ever optimistic, Yunus travels the globe spreading the belief that poverty can be eliminated: "...the poor, once economically empowered, are the most determined fighters in the battle to solve the population problem; end illiteracy; and live healthier, better lives. When policy makers finally realize that the poor are their partners, rather than bystanders or enemies, we will progress much faster that we do today." Dr. Yunus's efforts prove that hope is a global currency. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
This autobiography of the world-renowned, visionary economist who came up with a simple but revolutionary solution to end world poverty--micro-credit--has become the classic text for a growing movement.
In 1983 Muhammad Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with miniscule loans. He aimed to help the poor by supporting the spark of personal initiative and enterprise by which they could lift themselves out of poverty forever. It was an idea born on a day in 1976 when he loaned $27 from his own pocket to forty-two people living in a tiny village. They were stool makers who only needed enough credit to purchase the raw materials for their trade. Yunus's loan helped them break the cycle of poverty and changed their lives forever. His solution to world poverty, founded on the belief that credit is a fundamental human right, is brilliantly simple: loan poor people money on terms that are suitable to them, teach them a few sound financial principles, and they will help themselves.
Yunus's theories work. Grameen Bank has provided 3.8 billion dollars to 2.4 million families in rural Bangladesh. Today, more than 250 institutions in nearly 100 countries operate micro-credit programs based on the Grameen methodology, placing Grameen at the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through micro-lending.
Customer Reviews:
Turning Inspiration into Action.......2007-10-05
Not wanting to repeat the accolades mentioned in the reviews posted I would like to instead share how reading this book and meeting Yunus was a catalyst to some actions I took both on a personal and professional level. The intent is not self promotion or to showcase my efforts. Instead, I am providing ideas and addressing those of you who may find, as I did, that after finishing the last page you are left with a desire to do something. The dilemma was what could I do ......I am not a bank or live in a developing country. I did give copies of the book to friends, colleagues and family but I wanted to do something more concrete. Well, with micro finance "on my radar" I took some actions both on a personal and professional level that I hope are making a difference and are in some ways increasing the visibility and awareness of micro financing.
First a little background and comments on the book.....I had the great honor of meeting Muhammad Yunus shortly after he received the Nobel Peace prize in 2006 at an event in Paris sponsored by Planet Finance. Yunus is truly an inspirational person, charismatic in a subtle way, who has touched the lives of many. His enthusiasm is contagious. The book Banker to the Poor is a fascinating read.... humorous, touching and informational as it traces the evolution of the micro finance model from concept (starting with Yunus lending the equivalent of $27 to stool makers) to what it is today with over 7.2 million clients. What resonates with me is the idea of lending versus aid dumps from the World Bank, UN, NGO's and charity organizations. I don't want to discount the millions given as direct charity to the needy but the concept of micro finance creates a sense of pride and responsibility not to mention innovation and creativity. Micro finance can also generate incremental improvement versus charity or outright donations which, in many cases dries up, is short term and results in dependence instead of empowerment.
Some actions I took:
* I became aware of KIVA (www.kiva.org) an organization that facilitates micro loans (as little as $25) from individuals like you and I to a specific entrepreneur in a developing world empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty. These individuals are in fact showcased on the site where you can see a picture and read about the entrepreneur you have chosen. KIVA is founded by an impressive team of "Social Entrepreneurs". Using technology, KIVA brings the lenders and borrowers together and provides an online community for lenders who are also showcased on the site. Involving my daughter (10) in the decision process we are lending to an entrepreneur in Samoa, so she can buy timber to improve her greenhouse for her flower business.
* As President of my alumni association (Thunderbird) I organized an event around Micro Financing with the Managing Director of Planet Rating, a microfinance rating agency, as a guest speaker.
* At a university in Paris I run a project based course involving teams of MBA students. Proposing a project related to micro finance the students were enthusiastic and completed a study on micro finance in Europe.
* Professionally, I work with individuals in career transition and entrepreneurs in helping them to identify their unique strengths and values and message their brand appropriately both online and offline. Fundamentally, I find that people have a social conscious and want to do something concrete. To this end I suggest lending to a KIVA entrepreneur as a way to concretely incorporate a social conscious into their brand.
* As part of my involvement in a Global Telesummit entitled a Brand You World www.personalbrandingsummit.com I am involved in raising $100,000 in loans for KIVA entrepreneurs in the developing world. Incidentally, Kiva was featured on Oprah and is mentioned in Clinton's book "Giving".
Having shared how I was inspired by reading this book I would be more then interested in hearing how it inspired you and what actions you took.
Bernadette
Bernadette Martin
www.visibilitybranding.com
Enlightening work.......2007-08-12
Muhammad Yunus believed that every human being had a basic right to credit. He believed in the human spirit and peoples' hard work and honesty when given a chance to sustain themselves above poverty. His accomplishments have proven his theory over and over in several countries to millions of people. Micro-lending will surely be a part of the future success in Africa, Asia, and South America. A modified form of Mr. Yunus' model has worked in the USA, unfortunately, we as Americans aren't schooled nor molded to be basic entrepreneurs. We must change our school systems from teaching how to become good employees to how to become entrepreneurs as well. Mr. Yunus' model includes 5 person groups to help each other and support each other when one gets behind in loan repayments and/or family crisis. This is a very important requirement to micro-lending and must not be excluded when trying to duplicate the success of the Grameen Bank.
Thank goodness we have people in our world like Muhammad Yunus to teach us how to treat other human beings.
Poverty should be extinct!.......2007-08-09
This book is a testament to the good one can do to millions of people!
Poverty belongs in museums! One day, thanks to humanitarians like Muhammad Yunus, poverty will be something of the past and totally extinct, and the next generation will wonder how poverty was ever allowed to exist within our midst. Indeed that will be a glorious day!
Professor Yunus recounts his early life living in India, Bangladesh, and then in the United States. He was born in 1940 in British-ruled India. He was one of fourteen children born to devout Muslim parents. His mother was often ill, but despite this, his father never left her. Yunus later obtained a scholarship to study in the States, earned a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, and later became a professor. He once commented to his students, "What good were all my complex theories when people were dying of starvation on the sidewalks and porches across from my lecture hall? Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me."
As a young man he was very involved in the independence of Bangladesh when hundreds of thousands died, and many more after Bangladesh declared itself independent. The country was devastated, and stripped of its natural resources. Professor Yunus quickly left the US and headed to Bangladesh in order to help create a government, and thus get international help and support.
He was very concerned about the poor, and decided to help them. He was surprised why banks did not lend them money. Also the majority of the poor couldn't write or read, so they couldn't even fill out the forms required by banks in order to obtain a loan.
Grameen Bank (The name means the "bank of the village") was thus started in 1976 as an experimental project to combat rural poverty by providing credit to the very poor. Professor Yunus loaned $27 from his own pocket to forty-two stool makers living in a tiny village. These women only needed enough credit to purchase the raw materials for their trade. Yunus's small loan helped them break the cycle of poverty for good. Throughout the book you'll read of many such success stories.
Professor Yunus faced a lot of obstacles in creating his bank. He was accused by the Muslim clergy (Mullahs) of wanting to destroy Islamic traditions, and of promoting Christian values in Bangladesh. Some of his staff were even threatened. This was due to the fact that the bank encourages women to take loans and work, something of a taboo and highly unacceptable to Muslim women living in Bangladesh. In fact, many women were beaten by their husbands for the mere mention of money, let alone taking a loan. Women were also not encouraged to receive an education or work. Professor Yunus says, "All her life she has been told that she is no good, that she brings only misery to her family, and that they cannot afford to pay her dowry. Many times she hears her mother or her father tell her she should have been killed at birth, aborted, or starved. But today, for the first time in her life, an institution has trusted her with a great sum of money. She promises that she will never let down the institution or herself. She will struggle to make sure that every penny is paid back (65)."
In 1983 Grameen Bank (GB) was officially established. It is unique in that it has reversed conventional banking practices by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust. It promotes credit as a human right. Its mission is to help the poor families to help themselves to overcome poverty by issuing them with microcredits (very small amounts, like $7, something a conventional bank would never do). It is offered for creating self-employment for income-generating activities and housing, as opposed to consumption. It is particularly targeted towards poor women. It provides service at the door-step of the poor based on the principle that the people should not go to the bank; the bank should go to the people. This principal is helpful in a Muslim society where women are not allowed to leave their homes without the approval of their husband, and are not allowed to speak with men.
In order to obtain loans a borrower must join a group of borrowers, with each borrower recommending another. If one member of the group defaults on payment of his loan, then the whole group is denied further loans! However, to encourage destitute members to join, he/she does not have to belong to a group, no saving is necessary, no weekly repayment is necessary, his/her loan terms are decided by him/her, in consultation with his/her mentor.
A member is considered to have moved out of poverty if her family fulfills the following criteria:
1. The family lives in a house worth at least Tk. 25,000 (twenty five thousand) or a house with a tin roof, and each member of the family is able to sleep on bed instead of on the floor.
2. Family members drink pure water.
3. All children in the family over six years of age go to school or have finished primary school.
4. Minimum weekly loan installment of the borrower is Tk. 200 or more.
5. Family uses sanitary latrine.
6. Family has adequate clothing for everyday use and for winter, and mosquito-nets.
7. Family has sources of additional income, such as a vegetable garden, so that they are able to fall back on these sources of income when they need additional money.
8. The borrower maintains an average annual balance of Tk. 5,000 in his/her savings accounts.
9. Family has three square meals a day throughout the year. No member of the family goes hungry any time of the year.
10. If any member of the family falls ill, family can afford to take all necessary steps to seek adequate healthcare.
Professor Yunus distrusted dealing with the World Bank. According to professor Yunus, the world bank, with its headquarters away from Bangladesh, does not see poverty, but relies on theories. He also was wary of how they took full control of a country's financial needs.
There were a number of major natural disasters in Bangladesh. The 1998 flood was the worst of all. Half of the country was under flood-water for ten long weeks. Grameen borrowers lost most of their possessions including their houses because of the flood. Soon borrowers started to feel the burden of accumulated loans. They found the new installment sizes exceeded their capacity to repay. Grameen Bank repayment started to show quick decline. This was a good opportunity to design a new Grameen methodology, incorporating all the lessons learnt. As a result, Grameen Bank II was created.
The bank believes that the poor always pay back their loans, unlike the very rich. On some occasions they may take longer time to pay back than it was originally stipulated. Many things can go wrong for a poor person during the loan period. According to professor Yunus, since the borrower is paying additional interest for the extra time, where is the problem?
Grameen Bank has introduced higher education loans for all students who can enter into the higher educational institutions (medical, engineering, etc). Students are made responsible to repay the loans when they start earning. Half the scholarships are reserved for girl students. The remaining 50 per cent is open for both boys and girls. Each year Grameen Bank gives out 3,704 scholarships.
Grameen believes that poverty is not created by the poor; it is created by the institutions and policies which surround them. In order to eliminate poverty, all we need to do is to make appropriate changes in the institutions and policies, and/or create new ones.
Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank of Bangladesh won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
As of May, 2007, Grameen Bank had 7.21 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women. With 2431 branches, it provides services in 78,659 villages, covering more than 94 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh.
About 3 billion people live on less than $1 per day. Professor Yunus' vision is of eliminating poverty by 2050.
This is really a fascinating book and I highly recommend it.
Great for those interested in poverty relief/development.......2007-08-07
After reading, we bought multiple copies to give away to colleagues working in various capacities in poor areas of the world. Yunus' ideas and experience need to be examined and considered. This is no World Bank/UN/WMF big program aid-dump, but a reasonable, realistic, measured path from poverty to empowerment for the world's poor.
Lateral Banking.......2007-07-03
Learn how limiting entrenched Eurocentric thinking can be. Be inspired by the lateral thinking of Muhammad Yunus! A heartwarming read with just a touch too much description of the complexities of beaurocracy, but a must read nevertheless.
Book Description
Jonathan A. Knee had a ringside seat during the go-go, boom-and-bust decade and into the 21st century, at the two most prestigious investment banks on Wall Street--Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. In this candid and irreverent insider's account of an industry in free fall, Knee captures an exhilarating era of fabulous deal-making in a free-wheeling Internet economy--and the catastrophe that followed when the bubble burst. Populated with power players, back stabbers, celebrity bankers, and godzillionaires, here is a vivid account of the dramatic upheaval that took place in investment banking. Indeed, Knee entered an industry that was typified by the motto "first-class business in a first-class way" and saw it transformed in a decade to a free-for-all typified by the acronym IBG, YBG ("I'll be gone, you'll be gone"). Increasingly mercenary bankers signed off on weak deals, knowing they would leave them in the rear-view mirror. Once, investment bankers prospered largely on their success in serving the client, preserving the firm, and protecting the public interest. Now, in the "financial supermarket" era, bankers felt not only that each day might be their last, but that their worth was tied exclusively to how much revenue they generated for the firm on that day--regardless of the source. Today, most young executives feel no loyalty to their firms, and among their clients, Knee finds an unprecedented but understandable level of cynicism and distrust of investment banks. Brimming with insight into what investment bankers actually do, and told with biting humor and unflinching honesty, The Accidental Investment Banker offers a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the most powerful companies on Wall Street.
Customer Reviews:
Insightful Depiction of Investment Banking.......2007-10-07
Jonathan Knee has penned an insightful and detailed memoir of his investment banking career at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, both leading Wall Street houses.
The Accidental Investment Banker is helpful in that Knee has rendered the considerable service of describing what investment bankers actually do on a daily basis. Knee also offers a lucid analysis of the economic forces that transformed an industry that prided itself on its long-term advisory relationships into an industry that frequently competes directly against its clients. The rise of transactional investment banking, and the unhappy outcomes that it is capable of creating, is the central theme of Knee's book. Altogether, Knee's memoir is more thoughtful and detailed than Liar's Poker and similar memoirs.
Criticisms: Knee's publisher has left many copy-editing errors in the final manuscript. This volume deserves better. For Knee's part, his narrative tends to extol the virtues of the top MBA institutions and the "white shoe" investment banks, while disparaging MBA education in general and the absurdities and excesses of investment banking in particular. A more generous and accurate view-- and I am surprised that "The Accidental Investment Banker" does not endorse it-- is that talented people and successful businesses are found in many venues, and that pedigree is no guarantee of success.
good book - wildly misleading cover blurb.......2007-09-22
The cover of this is so misleading that you wonder what the publisher was thinking. This book does not do for IB what Liar's Poker did for fixed income trading (no slobbish bond salesmen throw telephones around here - though on a couple of occasions people make inappropriate comments at parties and iritate clients, and towards the end, during the internet bubble, they decide to dress down on Fridays, then, when the bubble bursts, they stop doing it again). What it delivers is a critical assessment of the state of the IB business, framed in terms of the author's own experience and observations of life at Goldman and Morgan, together with an apologia pro vita sua.
Both are pretty good and pretty useful. If you work in any branch of professional services, then there is a lot of interesting stuff here (pitch books are, alas, not unique to IB) and it is also readable. Knee's prose is a bit, um, prosaic, he is not Michael Lewis, but it goes by easily - there is a bit of New-Yorker-itis (people are introduced as 'slim, handsome and elegant', even 'elfin' a couple of times - does no-one read Leonard's rules for writers?), but nothing on the scale of Barbarians at the Gate, which, it if it were not so unreadably, incompetently badly written, would be the Liar's Poker of IB. And there are some definite gems, such as the description of the Goldman IBS team as resembling 'a German olympic swimming team' (which is even better than 'the Chets') which must have made some people wince.
In fact there is one possible reference to BatG here, where Knee describes the final negotiations in the sale of West, where he and his team successfully engineered that the 'right' bidder won an open auction, albeit at an extra cost of 50-100m (exhibit A in the 'apolgia'), to be compared and contrasted with the climax of BatG, where Felix Rohatyn efficiently extracted an extra 230 million dollars from KKR. Rohatyn would point out, in his defence, that there were no 'right' bidders for RJR, there were just different packs of predatory carnivores, and RJR was a public company, etc. True, but the parallel is still striking.
Neither Goldman nor Morgan come out of the book looking very good, but Goldman definitely comes out far ahead of Morgan.
What else? Knee crashed into the middle ranks, and moved up fast, so he does not say a lot about the endless diet of midnight pizza and the regular crashing under your desk in your suit which also go with the job, at least in my - very occasional - experience. There are also some interesting notes about Hank Paulson, which must have been written just before he left GS to be Treasury Secretary - Knee is, shall we say, not so impressed.
In conclusion: Definitely worth reading, but not for the jokes, or the madcap anecdotes - there aren't any. Knee comes across convincingly as an honorable, intelligent and likeable man and he delivers a lot of useful information and analysis. Finally, I can also reassure him that his somewhat self-conscious author's pic at the back is enough to guarantee that no-one will ever describe him as 'elfin'.
Great I-Banking Read.......2007-09-17
Though-provoking and pleasurable read that will be greatly appreciated by anyone who has/is working in the realm of high finance or wants to know more about it. A must read for any young, up-and-coming banker. While most i-banking books have their share of good vignettes and war stories, what separates this book apart is the thought-provoking analysis of internal politics with crucial underlying dictums.
Positives:
-Great description of the how the latest boom-and-bust period and other factors have (negatively) affected i-banking.
-Candid opinions and vignettes of people currently or recently active on the Street.
-Edifying/applicable i-banking politics analysis.
-Laugh-out-loud war stories.
Negatives:
-Knee's own importance is likely overstated in some parts, but cut him a break, he's an investment banker!
-Knee's joy in waxing poetic about the 'old days' of investment banking is undeniably in part a pitch for his newer role at Evercore, but again, you have to cut the author a little slack here.
-Some controversial political analyses - I don't have inside information to argue whether Knee's view is the 'true' view or not. At a minimum he is willing to put forth views on matters where, in this day and age, the vast majority of writers are too chicken to attempt.
The book ties together (1) Knee's career path, (2) Knee's most entertaining war stories, (3) Analyses of the rise-and-fall of several key figures on the Street and (4) Knee's main story: the changing roll of investment banks and the reasons for this change. While some have argued that certain parts are off topic, I would say that these stories and analyses are crucial to understanding the time and Knee's reasons for taking his particular view of i-banking. Moreover, we are all wiser and further entertained for its inclusion.
There's one point on which I take issue with Knee. He asserts that his primary reason for staying in investment banking is to influence decision making at the top ranks of corporations; however, if this is one's primary interest, I believe that this goal is better served by a career in private equity. I think this is a view that Knee, whether or not he agrees with it, should have addressed. That said, my zeal for this point is largely driven by my own career decisions, so I'd probably have a hard time claiming to be entirely without bias myself!
Learning: The fun way.......2007-09-04
This book is what banking professors want to recommend as Summer Reading for their students. This story educates people about all the processes and industry terms that are only available through experience or from a drab textbook.
You will learn about the author's education, how he got into banking, and how he has ended up where he ended up. Along the way, you will probably be startled to learn how much he and other top bankers make in a year. The new industry terms are fairly well defined so that people foreign to the industry are not left baffled.
The vocabulary is not too challenging. I would think that this book would be more entertaining than educational for an industry professional.
While not a world-mover, this book was terribly interesting and definitely educational. Although, that might just be my opinion.
On the Money.......2007-08-15
As far as I'm concerned, Jonathan Knee's book is the best of the "life on Wall St" books out there. It isn't the most shocking (Monkey Business), nor about the biggest deal (Barbarians). But it tells the true story of his climb up the ladder (and the trends shaping the industry) with engaging, self-deprecating humor. I worked at DLJ during the "monkey business" years and never encountered any of the unethical frat boy moments recounted in Troob's book (guess I wasn't invited to the cool parties; ha).
The Accidental Investment Banker doesn't dwell on the gutter moments of banking, nor does it glorify the industry. If you're considering a career in banking or just want to understand how the Street works (and laugh along the way), I highly recommend this book.
Vince Scafaria
CEO, DealMaven Inc.
Book Description
The Civil Litigation authors present legal principles and their application to litigation work in a very practical manner, making it easier to grasp the many concepts involved. The litigation process is covered in detail in a host of contexts so the reader can understand the relationship of litigation to other legal specialties. Sample documents such as complaints, answers, interrogatories and deposition summaries are presented and explained in relevant chapters, giving readers familiarity with documents they will encounter in the litigation law office setting. Several features in each chapter help reinforce the material. Questions for Review help the reader recall the important legal concepts of the chapter. Questions for Analysis promote understanding and application of the material to factual situations, and chapter exercises and projects provide the chance to apply the chapter material to such projects as drafting sample documents. In particular, an exercise in each chapter relates to a single case, giving students the opportunity to work it from beginning to end, simulating an on-the-job experience. Unique to this book is the on-line availability of state-specific supplements covering state law and practice for several states including California, New York, Ohio, Florida, and Texas.
Customer Reviews:
civil book.......2007-06-12
this book taught me alot and was very easy to read it was used in one of my favorite classes.
Buy it.......2004-09-21
This is a fantastic hard cover book which relates much of the information needed when working in the related field. Tjompson/Delmar Learning publishers are among the highest in their field. If you are looking for a source on Civil litigation then you most certainly have found it.
Thumbs down.......2004-08-15
This book is very poorly written. There are many typographical errors throughout the book and many, many inaccuracies in the content. Some terms are used incorrectly and instead of assisting the reader in learning civil litigation, it creates confustion and frustration.
I would not recommend this book to anyone - especially students.
I hope the new edition is worth the paper it's written on.
Great source of info.......2001-03-21
For all those up and comming law studients, this is a great information source. Step by step, the steps of the litigation process are illustrated. In addition, it is written in such a way that even a person with no legal background (like myself) can understand it. I highly recomend this book.
Book Description
So you want to be a mortgage broker?
Or maybe you're not sure yet.
Let's imagine a little.
Imagine a world, where you are your own master:
You have the time to do whatever you wish.
You have the ability to live up to your true potential.
No limits, no barriers. No handicaps or favoritism or discrimination. Nothing can hold you back.
You can be as successful as you wish. Your income is only limited by your desire.
No menial labor required. You can work whenever you want, wherever you wish. No time clocks to punch or bosses to bother you.
You can have a respectable white-collar universe. Computers, paper, and air-conditioned offices are your domain. High finance is your game.
Your market is virtually unlimited. Everyone wants and needs your product: money. And they will do what it takes to get it.
But you don't need any money to get started, you have nothing to risk. The money belongs to someone else, and you make money by helping them distribute it.
No formal education is required. Just be yourself, and through honesty and integrity you can succeed.
This is the world of the mortgage broker. And a world you can join, if you have what it takes to make a decision.
The trails are already worn. No new territory here. Thousands of successful brokers have walked this way before. And all you have to do is follow their path. No guesswork. No risk.
This is not a new opportunity. It has been around since there was money. And it will continue to be around as long as man walks the earth. The only question is, will you be a part of it?
What is it you desire out of life?
· More money?
· Financial security?
· A good future for your family?
· A chance to help others?
· Freedom?
All these can be yours, easily. If thousands of regular, everyday people can do it, so can you.
Mortgage brokerage is one of the last few remaining businesses, in which you are judged by your output, and not who you know, or where you went to school. It doesn't matter if you went to school at all. It might actually be better if you didn't.
Your income is unlimited. You alone determine your success. No external factors can stop you.
If you ever thought you could do great things, this is the opportunity to show what you can really do.
You don't need any money to get started. You don't even need a computer. All you need is the belief that you can succeed, and the desire to do so.
You can provide a much needed service. Imagine how it feels to get a hug from a man and a woman, who just bought their first house- a dream of there's for years, and one which they know was made possible only because you were there to help them.
That is the life of a mortgage broker. And our company will fill you in on all the details of this life: both the good and the bad.
First let me explain why I am writing this letter: My company, Kamrock Publishing has a website. This is our main site for mortgage professionals. We have several training and marketing resources available at this site.
But what we didn't have was a way to help people get into the mortgage business. And everyday we would get multiple emails from people wanting to know how to get a license, where do they start, how do they find a company to work for, etc.
And after a while, we got tired of answering these emails, so we put together the only book available that shows people how to get into the business. It's called,
So You Want To Be A Mortgage Broker?
If you have any questions about what to do to become a mortgage broker, or if you want a behind the scenes look at the world of mortgage brokerage this book will be invaluable to you.
In it, we cover all the questions we were asked repeatedly including several that people need to know but did not know to ask.
Some of the questions answered are:
· What does a broker do?
· How does a broker make money?
· W
Customer Reviews:
..........2007-07-16
Save yourself time and money - run a Google search to get info on the subject. This book is worthless, the author mainly advertises their websites.
Very Disappointed.......2007-03-15
This book was extremely BASIC. Hardly any useful information at all. If you have ever taken out a mortgage, you already know most of this. It was almost a total waste of money. The main focus of this book is to sell you a much more expensive program(s).
Going to enter the mortgage business.......2007-01-25
I loved this book.
For someone who knows very little about the industry and wants to get into it, this book is a great place to start.
The last review said that this information can be found on the internet. Maybe it is, BUT I doubt it. Anyway, I am not willing to waste countless hours and search through hundreds of websites to try to find it. Especially when the book is so cheap.
I really liked the section on what a typical day is like for a loan officer. But the best part, and something no one I talked to in the mortgage business was willing to talk about, was the section of how loan officers get paid. The author explains the frontend and the backend and how a loan officer can manipulate the numbers to make the client think they are getting a deal, but the loan officer is still making his money too.
If you are thinking about getting into the mortgage business, like I am, this book is a great place to start. Once you understand all the concepts in it, you will know what to talk about to propestive employers, and what questions to ask. Otherwise you are just going in blind.
Just the tips on getting a higher commission will pay for the book several times over.
Good Luck, God Bless.
Not worth the money or time..........2007-01-23
This book is definitely not worth the money or time.
The primary reason why you should NOT buy this book is that you can get the information that is found in this book (and MUCH more) by inquiring on any major search engine. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that there are only a FEW professions which have only ups and no downs. Being a loan officer or mortgage broker is not one of them. Almost all other information contained in this book is freely distributed on the net and I see no reason to spend my money to read something that I could read for free.
The second reason you should not buy this book, is the amount of unprofessionalism with which the book was written, that was unnecessary on Ameen's part and COULD be avoided if he chose to. But he chose not to. I've read quite a few books on many topics, including the mortgage industry, and I've never come across an author who had come even close to surpassing Ameen's ability to fill their book with as much promotion of their other products, as possible, to the point where the book could be considered to be only half book and half advertisement.
If that's what you're looking for, then buy this book.
So you Want to Be a Mortgage Broker.......2007-01-17
Great book that provided a lot of insight into the mortgage brokering.
Book Description
An all-time bestseller, Dolf de Rooss classic Real Estate Riches shows you how to find great deals and make great profits in the real estate market. Youll learn why real estate is such a reliable moneymaker and how to achieve the biggest return possible on your investment. Full of time-honored wisdom, proven tactics, and quick-and-easy tips, this book shows you how to find the best properties with the most potential, analyze deals, negotiate and submit offers, effectively manage properties, and dramatically increase the value of your real estate without spending much money. If you want to be your own boss and quit the nine-to-five life, Real Estate Riches shows you how.
Customer Reviews:
Real Estate Riches.......2007-01-10
This Audio program goes over all the different benefits or real estate investing versus investing in stocks or mutual funds. You will learn many valuable lessons from this program including how to find good investments, how to put deals together, how to manage properties once you acquire them. It will expand your mind as to what is possible for you to achieve. It changed my thinking!! Also, more importantly,it changed my actions. No product is worth anything if not acted upon. Thank you very much!!!
Not so much a "how to", more of a "why to"........2007-01-04
The main purpose of this book, as the author clearly states in the beginning of it, is not to tell you how to invest in real estate but more why you want to invest in real estate vs. the stock market and other investments. The author clearly knows what he's talking about, and his insights into the tax loopholes and financing options a real estate investor has are more than worth the price of the book. If you're a beginner, this is a great book to start out with. It's not going to tell you what to do, but it is going to tell you why you want to do it and give you some insight into the virtually unlimited leverage options a real estate investor enjoys as compared to a stock market investor who might as well take his/her money to Vegas.
If there's any doubt in your mind that real estate is the way to go, read this. I'd even recommend it for experienced real estate investors, for the reason that even though you won't learn anything new on how to go about your business, you might learn a few things about creative financing and tax loopholes that you'll wish you had known all along. Buy this book, read it over a weekend, then lend it to friends. It's not the real estate bible of the universe, but it is definitely worth reading if for nothing more than the author's upbeat, positive outlook and enjoyable writing style.
I especially like the author's anecdote about how he went through all those years of college to get a Ph. D. in engineering, then when he received his Ph. D. he was offered a job at $32,000 a year (this was the early 80's, I think, so that was a good starting salary for an engineer back then). But the week before he was offered the job, he had completed a real estate deal in which he made $35,000. So he turned down the job and to this very day has never had a job. Imagine that..... living your whole life without ever having to rent out your labor to the Man for a pittance and put up with the expectations of some moronic, terminally blue-collar boss. This guy has never had a job. He has always made his money--more than enough of it--working for himself rather than slaving away for fifty hours a week making someone else rich.
I recommend this book. It's definitely worth reading. I'm glad I have it.
good book........2006-11-03
The good thing about this author is he's very easy to listen to and he keeps your attention no problem. As opposed to the famous book "Blink" the guy has great information but he has a one tone voice that puts you to sleep.
The information is great but its not neccessarily a "how to" guide.
good points but overly simplistic.......2006-09-08
Dolf brings good points about property
1) having more control than paper assets
2)Leverage
3)Tax benefits
4)How inflation works in your favor
But a bit of it is overly simplistic.Anyone would know La is a hotter market than Idaho.
It felt good the first time --and still good for the firstimer.......2006-07-11
There is nothing detailed or even intellectually satisfying in this book. But I think the one thing that it does do is, (as another reviewer put it,) is to cheerlead. This book was exciting as it was the first book that I had ready on the subject. But now that I have done numerous transactions in real estate and handled millions of dollars worth of real estate and having experienced the ups and downs, DON"T DO REAL ESTATE AFTER READING THIS BOOK!!!!!!!! This book is so simplistic one does not know where to begin. For instance, Mr. Dolf, doesn't delve into possible set-backs seriously enough. He assumes that as long as you buy in a densely populated area, it is a safe bet. And he gives an example of "California" as one such place. There are many contingencies too numerous to list that destroys such a simplistic theory. Markets do have their time and in real estate, if you are stuck in a loan and a property you can't move, you are illiquid and repositioning is not as easy as it might seem. Therefore, being incapable of averting financial ruin is mmore difficult.
Real Estate is something that is experienced. You can't just "buy by the beach" and then just earn equity growth because no one is making beach front. And how many people have the kind of money that allows their first deal to be a fixer in Malibu. His other formula to look at a hundred-pick three-and buy one is really idiotic. There are no formulas in a mechanism that is continually shifting. The real estate industry is continually evolving. There is always an element of risk involved in any purchase. And buying single family homes is a mistake unless you are in a rapidly appreciating environment simply because there is less income potential to hold notes. And the more units, the better the rate (commercial properties). Also, the diversity of loan products just about allows anyone to buy their own home--no need to rent. None of this is even mentioned in these pages.
Then why three stars? Because, fundamentally getting excited is half the battle. And this book WAS exciting. Its simplicity is actually very appealing. In essence, he is right about one thing: Real estate is about debt acquisition ultimately. The SELECTION of the type and structure of debt and the INSTRUMENT against which a deed of trust is written is all-important. But Dolf miserably fails on these issues.There is a tremendous lack of serious dialogue and this book is simply an attempt to sell less than a mediocre work to a less than average society. For God's sake--HE TELLS YOU ABOUT THIS ONE HOUSE SOMEWHERE AND HE PAINTED IT AND LIKE MADE $20,000!! WOWIE!! $20k! You can buy gas for six whole months. Truth is, REAL ESTATE IS MORE COMPLICATED than one would ever assume. If you want something simple....buy an Index fund.
If you want to raise your I.Q. read another book. If you want to understand the simplest of simple items in real estate and get excited, read this book as a starter. But promise yourself you will wait before you jump into a ridiculous formula of see 100:make offers on three and buy one by the beach you cant afford!
Amazon.com
Founded in the late 18th century by expatriate German Jews, the London-based House of Rothschild was within decades the largest banking enterprise in the world. Its principals controlled a vast portion of the industrial world's wealth--more so, Oxford historian Niall Ferguson writes, than any family has since--and as a result enjoyed tremendous political influence in the major capitals of Europe, counting as allies such important figures as Metternich and Wellington. That influence would provoke countless anti-Semitic tracts fulminating against Jewish usury and against the power of "Eastern potentates" in the empires of England and France. Although the Rothschilds were well aware of their power and not reluctant to use it, they operated fairly, Ferguson notes. For example, whereas lending rates in the textile industry, in which the Rothschilds got their start, were often 20 percent, the fledgling house charged 5 to 9 percent. Through shrewd, complex negotiations they helped promote peace and the beginnings of economic union throughout Europe.
Ferguson's sprawling history covers much ground and involves a cast of hundreds of players. At the outset he notes that his book was commissioned by the modern descendants of the House of Rothschild; even so, he approaches his task with careful balance and a critical eye, pointing out the Rothschilds' failings as well as successes. The result is a fine, solid contribution to economic history, one that, unlike so many books in the field, is eminently readable. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
The first authoritative and compulsively readable history of the rise of this legendary banking dynasty
In his rich and nuanced portrait of the remark- able, elusive Rothschild family, Oxford scholar and bestselling author Niall Ferguson uncovers the secrets behind the family's phenomenal economic success. He reveals for the first time the details of the family's vast political network, which gave it access to and influence over many of the greatest statesmen of the age. And he tells a family saga, tracing the importance of family unity and the profound role of Judaism in the lives of a dynasty that rose from the confines of the Frankfurt ghetto and later used its influence to assist oppressed Jews throughout Europe. A definitive work of impeccable scholarship with a thoroughly engaging narrative, The House of Rothschild is a biography of the rarest kind, in which mysterious and fascinating historical figures finally spring to life.
"A great biography." --Time magazine
"Absorbing. . . .Their enthralling story has been told before, but never in such authoritative detail." --The New York Times Book Review
"Niall Ferguson's rich and compelling new book . . . is a feast." --The Wall Street Journal
* Chosen by Business Week as one of the Best Business Books of 1998
* A finalist for the National Jewish Book Award
Customer Reviews:
THE PHANTOM ROTHSCHILDS.......2007-07-03
What has Ferguson not told about the Rothschilds in his seemingly exhaustive two volume set?
He all too facilely dismisses Victor Rothschild's being the fifth man in the World War II Soviet spy ring of Blunt, Burgess, et. al. He does not bring up the 1776 Masonic Illuminati order of Adam Weishaupt with alleged connections to Mayer Amschel. And he dosen't discuss the Rothschilds' connection with Freemasonry at the highest level, and their gift to Israel of the Supreme Court building, a New World Order artifact, heavily laden architecturally with Freemasonry symbolism. Likewise, glaringly absent from note are 19th, 20th, and 21st century Illuminati activities, which the family has been widely thought to be involved with. History Professor Ferguson could fill in his blanks on some vital but shady Rothschild history from Henry Makow, a researcher and writer--and a Jew.
According to an article on Ferguson in Harvard Magazine (May/June '07), he is about to take on biographical writing of Henry Kissinger, at Kissinger's request. This should generate caution. Could Kissinger's "papers" be entirely relied on? Kissinger probably saw what sheen Ferguson could put on the Rothschild's archives as raw material, ignoring or minimising important but dark concerns.
Same question on the Warburg's family papers that he is availing himself of. What will Ferguson tell us about Paul Warburg's role in establishing the egregious Federal Reserve, and Max Warburg financing the Bolshevik revolution?
Let's hope that Ferguson can either put this and other allegations to rest once and for all or illuminate them if true--but now that he's shown his colors with the Rothschilds, I doubt that he will, either way.
It seems that sympathetic academic interest in these elitist families and individuals is inevitable in part because that is where the big bucks for research and publishing would be, especially for a scholar who professes to have, as he says in the Harvard Magazine article, "become a thorough philo-Semite".
Is there a whiff of opportunism here at the expense of objectivity?
The author must be an anti-Semite.......2007-04-18
the book had some good pictures, however prof Ferguson not once, but on numerous occasions, claims to refute the story of how Nathan brilliantly deceived the London Stock Exchange players after the battle of Waterloo, earning $40 billion (2007 prices) in one day. A bit jealous I suppose.
Verdict: Ignore the anti-semitic propaganda and the book is worth a look.
Great book by Ferguson on monied surrupticious Euro family..........2006-10-16
[Also see: Fritz Springmeier's Bloodlines of the
Illuminati]. Ferguson, who teaches at a Northea-
stern University in the US, did yeoman work here
on at least defusing some of conspiracy talk about
how fools like Bernard Piper-Collins claim Roths-
childs alledgedly control ALL things.The Rothschilds
never ran the bank of England, the gentile Baring
Bros. did. They are however a very corrupt family.
Author Ferguson did excellent work here.
A little too detailed.......2006-06-23
I have to start out by saying overall I enjoyed the book but I would only rate it as an average book. It is a little too detailed and didn't keep my interest from one chapter to the next. It would have been better if it left out 150 pages or so. I found myself doing a lot of skiming over what I would say was boring filler in the book. You can learn a lot about the type of business that that Rothschilds were in but not a lot of how they went about doing it.
After reading this it seems that the Rothschilds were in the business of making large loans to governments and then packaging these loans as bonds and selling them to the public. They were as much bond and commodity traders as they were bankers, which I found interesting. There are numerous quotes from letters written back and forth between family members that will give you a sense of their personalities. The family history is very detailed so if this is the kind of thing you are interested in then you will probably enjoy the book more then I did.
Much more than a family saga.......2005-11-07
Those who already know Niall Ferguson do not need any praise for the books he writes: a few years ago I chanced to read his excellent "The Cash Nexus" and this led me to "The Pity of War" and finally to "The House of Rothschild".
Ferguson is a scholar who loves challenges: not just challenging arguments, but also challenges in the sheer volume of sources and research, and finally challenges to the reader in presenting controversial theses (I think specially of those advanced brilliantly, and contentiously, in "The Pity of War" - see my review if interested).
This last effort is mainly an attempt to unveil the Rothschild mythology, restoring an historically accurate perspective both of the family saga and of the banking and financial European history from 1798 to 1848.
The book is a masterpiece for many reasons: not just story of a family (circumscribed to the male members), not just story of a great banking institution in the past two centuries, but also comprehensive financial history of the first half of XIX century... "a rich and nuanced portrait" as the book leaflet reads - that reveals and hides, but also creates an appealing and fascinated image of those turbulent years.
So, it can appeal the history buff, and all those readers interested in financial history (and speculative bubbles) as well as those interested in biography and cultural history.
The essay definitely has also - obviously maybe - a literary dimension: because in describing the five brothers Ferguson uses those same "colors" used by contemporaries, a literary dimension that cannot but appeal and enrich the more serious economic investigation: for Nathan the "meteoric" larger than life Napoleon-like image (passion for risk, high stakes on the table and the ruthlessness of a general), for James that richly colored literary portrait (full of mid-tones) we have been used by writers like Balzac, Zola and Stendhal (the mix of secretiveness and candid frankness, detachment and savoir vivre), for the others three brothers the age-old mythologies of Midas and the wandering Jew (specially in the portrait of the German and Austrian branch: they seem consciously prisoners of the Jewish stereotype in their inability to enjoy life and relax).
Every reader interested in the story of the House of Rothschild want to know the why and how a middle class Jewish family confined in the Frankfurt ghetto was able in just one generation to become the richest family in the world.
Ferguson's study is very good in the pars destruens, that is in taking down and unveiling the old mythologies (like the Waterloo myth, or the Hesse Kassel myth), less good in the pars construens that is substituting a coherent explanation. The surviving accounts are of course too tiny to cast light, and the accounting techniques used by the family in the early days too backward to be critically useful.
So the impression is that of an unending race over speed limits, a sheer willingness to accept often uncalculated risks and to play for the highest stakes and at the same time an impressive luck (or God's favor) that stuck contemporaries (always expecting the meteoric rise of Nathan to end like the parallel story of Napoleon).
So was their preeminence produced only by chance?
Yes and no. Chance - according to Ferguson - played a striking role in the early stages - the building up, but consolidation and enlargement were due to specific attitudes of the family: solidarity between brothers, their informative network, their ability in cultivating diplomacy and - not least - to the fact that the family systematically reinvested in the business about 96percent of the net income produced (unlike - say - the Barings brothers, that in 1816 had almost the same size)
The book will be also hugely helpful to readers interested in European history, casting a different - unusual to most readers - light in the inner mechanism of the early XIX century European politics.
As for the nature of the Restoration, often liquidated by historians as a narrow and backward attempt to turn back the clock to pre-revolutionary times, Ferguson shows how different in reality was this period from the Ancien Regime and how the seeds of modernity were well present and working: the sheer preference of the banking institution for financing representative-backed monarchies, the consolidation in Jewish emancipation all over Europe, but also the frailty of arch-conservative governments (not just the case of Spain, but also of the Holy Alliance) compared to more pragmatic approaches.
A rather under-developed theme is the rise of modern anti-Semitism: Ferguson - unlike most scholars - indicates the first traces in France well before the Affaire Dreyfus and hints how the irresistible rise of the Rothschild family (with their devotion to Judaism) was very instrumental in consolidating anti-Jewish mythologies (out of a sense of envy but also perceived in France especially as a alien "evil" power).
As a reader interested also in financial themes, I was truly fascinated by those chapters dedicated to the bond and stock markets, particularly those regarding the default of Spanish and Portuguese consols.
The Rothschild were the first bankers to export the financial facilities, long enjoyed in Great Britain, to Continental Europe and were decisive in creating a retail market for bonds and stocks.
But the most interesting part is the one dealing with financial speculation, bubbles and defaults. Most remarkable is the feeling of a déjà vue: if you substitute Spain and Portugal with Argentina, you will observe striking similarities both in price, negotiations and very likely in the final outcome. Nihil sub sole novi, or at least it seems so.
This is a book I greatly enjoyed.
I cannot but recommend it to every reader interested in serious history.
That is not to say that it is perfect: I was - as many other reviewers - incensed by the lack of bibliography (shame on Penguin), but on the average it is an outstanding achievement.
Likewise, if you happen to be interested in the argument, you may be interested in other works I chanced to read about the same themes:
- Muhlstein, Anhka - "James de Rothschild", this is a book I read long time ago, but it was more a biography in the classical way and as far as I remember, I found it rather inconsequential
- Chancellor, Edward - "The Devil Takes the Hindmost" - a colorful and well-informed essay focusing specially on the XIX century. There are chapters dedicated to defaulting bonds in the XIX century as well as to the railway stocks bubble in the United Kingdom.
- Conor Cruise O'Brien - "The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism". I have many works dedicated to Sionism and Judaism, but this is the most concise and clear exposition of the birth of anti-Semitism in Western Europe in late XIX century.
You are most welcome if you can suggest other readings or just share ideas and comments!
Thanks for reading.
Book Description
Turn financial statements into powerful allies in your decision making
Whether you're an investor, creditor, consultant, regulator, manager-or an employee concerned about your company's well-being and the stability of your job-the ability to successfully interpret and analyze financial statements gives you a leg up in today's rough-and-tumble marketplace. Analysis of Financial Statements, Fifth Edition, by Leopold A. Bernstein and John J. Wild, gives you every practical, up-to-date method for making the data in financial statements clear and meaningful. You get analytical tools that range from computation of ratio and cash flow measures to earnings prediction and valuation as you learn how to reconstruct the economic reality embedded in financial statements. User-friendly and engaging, this hands-on classic is loaded with graphs, charts, and tables, so you can see how topics relate to the business practices of actual companies. A concluding comprehensive case analysis of the Campbell Soup Company gives shape and color to the author's step-by-step lessons.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best I've read.......2006-03-17
I am not a CPA or Finance major. I am a physicist so the math is not intimidating. I have been investing as an amateur since retirement and this book gives solid and easily understood ways to get at the valuation of a company and its stock by investigating the financial statements. There is a good comprehensive case study at the end of the book, but I wish the authors would give more examples either within or at the end of each chapter.
Informative, but hard to read.......2003-07-08
I did not finish this book because it is written in a very academic and hard to grasp language. Authors, please make your sentences a little shorter and simpler, the book is very boring and verbose! However, I must give credit to the authors for including almost all of the tools one will need for analysis of financial statements.
Each edition of this book just gets better and better!.......2000-06-03
I have bought every edition of this book, and it just keeps getting better and better. As a 25 year veteran of corporate finance, I continue to use this book myself on a regular basis and to recommend it to less experienced employees who are still developing their expertise. Every finance library should have this book.
Average customer rating:
- Wonderful Book: Hope There is a Movie
- Good Plot Idea But ...
- Texas, Oil, Women, WWII and Con games...what more do you need?
- Burton Stacks the Deck
- Going into the past in "The Rogues' Game"
|
The Rogues' Game
Milton Burton
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Poker | Card Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312336810
Release Date: 2005-06-16 |
Book Description
'Milton Burton writes with a ruthless charm rivaling the great Raymond Chandler. The Rogues' Game is as rich as a pan shot in Giant, as human as a closeup of a narrow mind. It deals with poker, crime, love, oil, and Texas-and finding what you like and letting it kill you. Hard to believe it's a first novel.'-Kinky Freidman 1947. An enigmatic man driving a fine Lincoln convertible and accompanied by a beautiful blonde, arrives in a small West Texas town. Ostensibly, his purpose is to get into a poker game that had been going on at the infamous Weilbach Hotel. But as the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that he has a darker motive, one that centers on a sinister local banker named Clifton Robillard. Aided by an old-time hood named Chicken Little, the protagonist maneuvers Robillard toward a shatter-ing climax in which we discover that nothing is what it seems to be.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Book: Hope There is a Movie.......2007-10-06
I just read The Roque's Game in two sittings. It takes place in Texas, the oil booms and big poker games, right after World War Two. The foreshading and plotting are just fantastic. You suspect what might happen but you are turning those pages in a hurry to find out. All the behind the scenes descriptions of oil leasing and the oil booms are totally authentic. My Dad was a geologist/landman. I was the Director of Petroleum Land Management at Texas Tech for many years. The detail and obvious historical research make this one fine book. You will love this book!
Johnny Hughes, author of the upcoming novel Texas Poker Wisdom
Good Plot Idea But ..........2006-08-21
Backdrop for story in post WWII Texas is intriguing as is basic plot but story becomes too predictable & the characters are caricatures. The result is a below-average page turner.
Texas, Oil, Women, WWII and Con games...what more do you need?.......2006-07-10
This is a great first book. As a native Texan I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of old time Texas in the 40s, oil wells, greed and con men. Plus a little dose of WWII intrigue. Looking forward to Mr. Burton's next effort.
Burton Stacks the Deck.......2006-02-20
Kudo's to first time author Milton T. Burton for pulling it off - a slick and immensely satisfying read told with the flair and sophistication of an author you'd think had been doing this for a career.
"The Rogues' Game" refers to, at least on the level closest to the surface, a weekly poker game held in an aging hotel of a backwater post-World War II Texas hole of a town. In classic noir fashion, we learn neither the name of the town nor our narrator whose story rolls as easily across the pages as our hero rolls into town in a grand convertible with an even grander blonde babe on his arm. From there Burton artfully leads us down what appears to be an oft-traveled path of a pair of grifters on the con, but soon we find that the author and his narrator have a much more important score to settle than a simple heist in a local high-stakes poker game. Braced by a strong supporting cast of memorable thugs with names like "Chicken Little" and "Ice Pick Willie", the author weaves a tight mystery told in dusty Texas roadhouses and smoky (...) fight galleries, settings which he knows well and relates with authority. With oil boom in truly Texan scale and murky allusions to Reinhard Heydrich and other Nazi war criminals, the initially simple block thickens deliciously on the way to an unsuspected jackpot.
Well paced, gritty, and authentic, both Milton T. Burton and his debut novel are the real deal. I'm looking forward to his next hand - you'd be wise to place a bet on this one.
Going into the past in "The Rogues' Game".......2005-09-07
Like the small west Texas town that is never named, the man with no name is not what he appears to be on the surface. He drives a beautiful car and appears in town with a beautiful woman named Della. It isn't the first time he has been in town as he was here before in 1942. This time he is back to seek some revenge and no one remembers him or suspects that he is anything other than what he appears to be-a flamboyant gambler.
Revenge for what isn't clear nor is his plan. His plan does involve a weekly high stakes card game that has been going on for decades at the Weilbach Hotel. It also isn't really clear which of several players is his target. It also isn't clear on how Della's interest in a recent oil strike is going to help or for that matter hurt his plan. Like his cards, he keeps his plans close to the vest and adjusts for changes. He does have a plan, he is flexible and he just needs a little help from friends like Chicken Little and Icepick Willie.
What follows in this novel by Tyler, Texas resident Milton T. Burton is an intriguing and deeply twisted tale of a great con. The author opens a portal back into a different time and pulls the reader deeply into a Texas of the recent past. Told through first person point of view he spins a rich and complex weave that pulls the reader deep into his world where only slowly does the shape and scope of the plan come tantalizingly clear like the mirage on a West Texas highway during the heat of the summer before disappearing again. Heavily atmospheric both in place and in style of writing, this is the kind of novel that starts slowly, moves slowly and pulls the reader in so deep that when one looks up from the book there is that splendid moment of disorientation between the past that might have been and the present.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2005
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