The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System--and Themselves

Reads like a potboiler or thriller: you really feel like YOU ARE THERE during the frantic deliberations which took place as Wall Street threatened to tumble during the Great Recession. The dizzying whirl of dealmaking as every bank/firm attempts to combine with every other one; the life-or-death decisions made by Hank Paulson & Tim Geithner; the sad fall of Dick Fuld as the government lets Lehman go to the wolves: it all makes for a meticulously researched pageturner. As an ex-Wamulian, I was a little surprised that WaMu only got a couple of sentences, but in fairness, this book centers on the Street. Highly recommended!

Andrew Ross Sorkin has produced the definitive insider's view of how American capitalism crumbled under its own self-destructive tendencies. Sorkin, who covers Wall Street for the New York Times, introduces the reader to a cast of characters that rivals that of 'Lord of the Rings' in its complexity. Here we meet regulators, politicians, undersecretaries, functionaries of all stripes, private risk managers, M&A deal gurus, foreign investors, and a seemingly endless parade of financial bigwigs. Without missing a beat, Sorkin leads the reader from the early rumblings of trouble in the housing market up to the passage of TARP in the waning days of George W. Bush's second term in office.

With the exception of JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, the CEOs of big banks demonstrate craven, self-absorbed behavior at nearly every turn. Merrill Lynch's former CEO, John Thain, offered a stunning example of this when, after hearing Treasury Secretary Paulson, Fed Chairman Bernanke, and SEC head Shiela Bair talk about how the banks must take capital injections provided by the Fed to stave-off a complete meltdown of the global economy, his first question was whether accepting the plan meant that the government would limit his compensation. Sorkin offers an overwhelming number of mind-blowing examples like this from former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, and many other titans of Wall Street. Hank Paulson emerges as a tireless hero whose commitment to sorting-out the mess he and his friends helped create through their push for deregulation. (Paulson was CEO of Goldman Sachs prior to being named Secretary of the Treasury by George W. Bush.)

The strength of this work lies in Sorkin's ability to place the reader in the very room with this motley assortment, where one can eavesdrop on the conversations that would lead to the end of capitalism as we knew it. I could not help but be reminded of Willam Shirer's 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' while reading TBTF. Like Sorkin, Shirer had the journalist's gift of presenting history with a sense of immediacy and pace that is too-often lacking in the dry recitation of events. (Like Sorkin, Shirer was also on staff at the New York Times at the time the events took place.) Sorkin presents heroes and villains in rapid succession, and with convincing accuracy.

This very tendency toward microscopic journalism, however, also left me wishing for more context-- less conversation, and more analysis. While Sorkin concludes the work with a passable epilogue, it comes nowhere close to providing the reader with a framework in which the events of 2007-2009 (the focus of this book) make sense. (For this, I highly recommend Bob Scheer's 'The Great American Stick-Up'.)

Incidentally, HBO has made a stellar palimpsest of TBTF. While it is impossible to give all the events described in the book their due in a single film (the book weighs in at 600 pages), it succeeds in drawing out the main lessons of the tale for a bigger audience: Wall Street will look after its own self-interest, damn the consequences to the nation. And, what's worse, it looks after itself in an appallingly incompetant manner, which means taxpayers will be on 24-standby to bail them out again and again, regardless of which political party happens to occupy the executive branch.

Recommended.

A surprisingly well researched accounting of the details from the insider perspectives. His personality/state of mind/psychology insights add color to the decision process from the many participants who proved influential. It really wasn't too long ago that this transpired and we are still working our way through the implications of these events, so it's a good read for those in or influenced by the industry, as well as being written in an accessible manner for those who are not involved in the day to day.

I am 75% done reading this book and highly recommend it. The author is well regarded and thus the lengthy book is very informative and quite an enjoyable read. The the store description, the entire title of the book, and assuming it's as accurate as those "in the know" profess it to be, is what you get in a novel-like read. It's definitely not dry, boring, and hyper-technical. I am glad to have the backstory on the various motivations of the Wall Street execs as well as reading about what clearly is the tremendous amount of work and pressure brought to bear by those business pros brought on at the very end of the Bush administration. It seems as these highly experienced and Wall Street connected people, like Paulson or others who came in on a moments notice from the private sector, some unpaid, to help our country avert another Depression.

While there have been mixed reviews of Sorkin's book with complaints that he did not set the stage as to what the financial world was like before the subprime meltdown, he certainly documents the ineptitude, stupidity and laziness of the regulators (thank you Bill Clinton), the totally rampant GREED of the Wall St.crowd and the real issue that it is far from over. Goldman Sachs, the aptly named Vampire Squid has its hands in the mess in Greece which promises once again to rob US taxpayers via the IMF of more of their money to pay for the lifestyles of the corrupt and powerful. To think that Wall St is an icon of the US financial system when it is populated by the most incompetent and unethical elements in our society is a joke. While taxpayers lose homes and jobs, these sweet things still have the money to dine as they always did in NYC.
And this outstanding book documents the whole thing blow by blow - should actually rename it "Too Big to Fail Part 1 - The Banks" to distinguish it from the sequel "Too Big to Fail Part 2 - The Nations"

Unequivocally the most insightful account of the struggle to salvage the U.S. financial system from the brink of collapse. Andrew Ross Sorkin is a columnist, assistant editor of business and finance news, and the mergers and acquisitions reporter for the NY Times. He is much more than that.

Sorkin displays an unparalleled combination of story-telling, and a breadth and depth of reporting skills that contribute mightily to this epic work. He illuminates the essence of the most profound financial crisis in this nation's history since the Great Depression. His unique access to key decision makers, Wall Street insiders and government officials serves to set this work apart from other treatments of this subject.

Far and away the BEST non-fiction BOOK on the U.S. financial crisis during the first decade of the 21st century.

Exceptionally well written book. It took me about 2 weeks to open it at first, but when I did, I couldn't stop reading until about 3AM, and didn't put it down for the rest of the weekend. Extremely interesting from a first person/biographical perspective, but written like a great newspaper article that is easy to understand and enjoy.
I am truly amazed and enlightened to know that these Wall Street mega millionaires are really just regular people with a little bit of talent, incessant perseverance, and a ton of luck to be where they are (or where they were). For an entrepreneur like myself, it is certainly motivating to know that just about anyone can become anything they strive hard enough to be. It also helps me to see where they went wrong, so that I can hope to avoid those pitfalls in my own future.

TBTF was all about rapping my head around the 2008 financial crisis - and response. The exhaustive amount of research Sorkin did was stunning, as was the terrifying truth about what happened in 2008 (when I was a bleary-eyed/oblivious sophomore in college). Henry Paulson sticks out as the seminal figure in the crisis, more so than Bush or Obama, as does Jamie Dimon's supreme aura. I'd also recommend the book for those that need constant reminders of who acquired what and how these financial institutions interact with one another now. Learned some good terms such as Government Sachs and why everyone should discredit Dick Fuld. Good times!

"Too Big to Fail" is thoroughly engrossing and hard to put down. The author seems to have had extraordinary access to many of the principal players on all sides of this drama which took our financial system to the precipice and whose long-term effects are still being played out. The author provides a feast of detail which enriches our understanding of the events that continue to deeply affect our future, and that of the world

Really good summary of how the Wall Street suits scrambled around to save their egos when the crooked empires they built started to crumble. I laughed out loud when they mentioned a Goldman partner was having cash flow issues despite being paid over $100m, just how ridiculous these people are! It reads like a novel and is a great summary of what went on during that crazy time. Some delusional characters on Wall Street for sure!

A most interesting take on an historic economic current event. Compelling stories on a variety of levels including input from Warren Buffet. Certainly lots of action to hold your interest however, I was overwhelmed by the number and cast of characters and how they all melded together. Still am not entirely clear on who fits with whom. Thought, on balance, that Paulson and Geithner turned out just fine trying to deal with situations not of their making yet performing under intense pressure to accommodate both business and politics. Being a Canadian, It is extraordinarily difficult to understand how the great American free enterprise system can function to protect investors, pension plans and mutual funds without any rules regulating investment and derivative markets. It is no wonder that greed and self interest replace honesty and ethical behaviour. Still, a great read and "To Big To Fail" continues to remain a controversial issue!

From the day I say Andrew Ross Sorkin promoting his book on TV, I knew I had to get it. When I first got it, I was surprised to see how thick this book was, but was pleasantly surprised to find that was an easy read. It was clear, concise and easy to understand, even if you're not in the industry. I've read quite a few books on the subject, but I especially liked this book, because unlike the others, Mr. Sorkin actually lets you in on who the players were and what they were saying, thinking and how they were reacting at the when the market and financial institutions were on the verge of collapse. I was amazed at some of the in-dept conversations and knowlege he was able to obtain and the source that provided these detailed accounts of the events. very good read.

This book was a non-stop page-turner, filled with colorful stories, gut-sucking tension and sheer horror...all concerning the collapse of several of the top Wall St. investment banks and near implosion of world financial markets. Sorkin has written what will most likely come to be known as the definitive account of what went down when the Wall St. dominoes fell. There are certainly books available that treat perhaps in more depth the individual collapses of several of these Wall St. firms, however it's difficult to believe that any one book could come close to revealing the incredible detail that Sorkin manages to provide about the key players from Bear, Lehman, Merrill, AIG, the US Treasury and the Fed during the fearful months of 2008 culminating in bankruptcy and bailouts. If there's one document that summarizes the near total insanity of this time period, it has to be the photo contained in the book, of Treasury Secretary Paulson's daily phone log from a single day in mid-September 2008 -- containing the names of everyone he spoke to on just ONE of his several phones...the list includes almost everyone except the Queen of England. Highly recommended.

I read this book quite quickly, despite its length. That in itself is a very high praise in my world.

The story of all the happened in the investment houses in NYC, the Fed, The treasury department and some other financial capitals is well told. I was left with a few thoughts once I digested all the story;

1. We came very close to a financial meltdown.
2. The folks in government, while they could have done more regulation years before to prevent the issue, reacted rather quickly and effectively.
3. Strong regulation AND enforcement will be needed to prevent a similar event.

All in all, a very interesting book, written well on a fascinating event.

Riviting about the players and forceful politics.
With about 172 intertwining players of various stripes between Wall Street Houses, the Fed, past Wall Street tycoons now with Treasury, FDIC, and friendly and connected government officials, it became an incestuous relationship (as defined in an on-line dictionary)"so close and intimate as to prevent proper functioning", in a deep rooted effort to protect the Wall Street types from losing fortunes as a result of their own greed and folly, at the taxpayers expense.
Well documented and anotated.

I found this a terrific read, especially after reading The Big Short. It was surprisingly entertaining and enlightening to the behind-the-scenes action of the months during the crisis. My suggestion would be to create a cheat-sheet on who's who as they appear in the book. There are so many people involved that some of the secondary people got lost as to who they worked for and what their titles were. I found that the method of endnotes in the back of the book a bit weak considering I didn't know they existed until after the near 600 pages of reading.

I found the detailed insights into the people struggling to weather the financial storm fascinating. In the end, it was all about perception, not actual dollars on hand (because nobody actually had in their hands a single tangible dollar). Those the CEO's and regulators liked, personally, were helped, those less favored, were left out in the cold. Excellent human story. Lessons to be learned.

Sure it would have been nice to have more financial details explained, but I found the explanations sufficient for the purpose of understanding the people and personalities. And ultimately, it was all about personalities. Loved it.

What was missing for me, at least in the Kindle edition, was a Rogues Gallery and perhaps one big organization chart. Would have loved to tie faces to names.

Sorkin provides a riveting account of the demise of Lehman and Merrill, and the unwinding of AIG. He provides a blow-by-blow narrative chronicling the efforts to save those institutions, and gives life to the cast of executives, lawyers and regulators involved in those events.

But Sorkin fails to explain why those institutions ended up where they did. While making oblique references to "wraps," "derivatives" and other financial instruments, he provides little in the way of analysis. He does not explain why these financial innovations created systematic risk, or give any sense of their pervasiveness. If we are to fully comprehend the remarkable events of 2008, Sorkin must explain how those developments brought us to the brink of economic collapse.

"Too Big to Fail" is good (and a fun read), but does not stand on its own as a complete account of the demise of Lehman, et al.

Outstanding book to understand the behind-the-scenes and everything regarding one of the most importante crisis in the modern era.
The author brings a great narrative, with minute by minute situations and scenarios that make you feel that you are present in those moments.
Would definitely recommend it to any student, professional that wants to know more about a lots of characters and institutions risponsible of the crisis.

In this book, Sorkin was able to use brilliant research and testimonies from those that played a critical role during the financial crisis in 2008. What makes this book different and better than other being published on this topic is that it put the reader in the room and lets the reader decide what really happened and whether the right actions were taken. While I am a double major in Finance and Economics, I believe this book is can be easily understood by those less familiar with the financial markets. For those that have been taking mass media's coverage of this crisis at par value, this book is a must read and will open your eyes.

Fascinating inside account of the economic crisis and the personalities that fought to stop it. Sorin does a extremely comprehensive job document some of the most perilous financial times in modern American history.

It is hard to imagine a more complete and riveting history of the 2008 financial crisis. It is not enough to have "lived" through this crisis--this book is a must read for everybody. It is filled with descriptions of behind the scenes "calls to and from Warren Buffett and other CEOs" and fascinating merger hook ups that nearly, but never got completed. Did you know that Goldman Sachs tried to sell itself to Citigroup at the height of the crisis??? Did you know that Lloyd Blankfein personally called up Victor Pandit to sell him his company, and Mr. Pandit turned him down???!!!

"Too Big to Fail" is the 2009 version of "When Genius Failed," a definitive report of the fall of the Long Term Capital Hedge fund in 1998 by Roger Lowenstein. First one should read Lowenstein's book...then Sorkin's. If you read these books in order, you will see the true potential of moral hazard: because the Fed orchestrated a bail out of the risky hedge fund and all it's banking partners in 1998, the banks didn't learn the true dangers of too much leverage and too many fancy derivatives. They therefore continued to load up on leverage and derivatives...thus the collapse of 2008. Obviously the crisis was more complex than that...but avoiding leverage and derivatives would have eased some of the pain of falling housing prices and concurrent recession...

Warren Buffett has mentioned "Too Big to Fail" a few times during interviews over the past couple months. He has obviously read it himself, and I certainly second the motion.

This is a really well written book about the crises that almost took down this country's financial system. He captured the story and made all the personalities come to life with a narrative of not just what happened, but with the actual conversations between the key players. We were on the brink of a national disaster and he not only told us why but who took us there by name and who bailed us out. My take away is that the fault was a consequence of greedy and unconscionable bankers and to date it looks like the Government has basically failed to punish them. If it were not for a handful of key Government officials like Treasury Secretary Paulson, we would still be dealing with the problem and trying to recover our financial system.

Before buying this book, wanted to learn in depth about what lay behind the recession and how far-reaching its effects were, and the book answers that and is very readable. Like others, I would get the bad news stories coming over the air and on the Internet, one after the other, but had little or no knowledge of what was going on "backstage," only that the recession was feeding on itself. This book takes us there, allowing us to encounter what the people encountered, to feel what they felt, in short experience the horror as it all came crashing down,and it could happen all over again if something isn't done. It was hard to put the book down. Have ordered the DVD.

If you really want to know the juicier details and behind the scenes dealings, then this is the book for you. This book avoids some of the heavier specifics of our economic state, but gives an excellent review of the day-to-day workings that occured between various government officials and top bankers. I highly recommend!

If you want to understand why the financial mess happened in 2008-2010, read or listen to this. Really worth it. Reads like a novel. You won't like the people you will read about, but at least you will know exactly who the selfish creeps are that caused the collapse. Will also learn how the government handled the crisis by the seat-of-their-collective-pants. Sickening, but fascinating.

This is a very-well written book detailing the financial crisis of 2007-08. The book started out at the takeover of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan and concluded at the implementation of the TARP program.

I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the book. It was a 500 pager that I finished in less than 2 weeks, suffice to say, it was page turner with similar writing style to that Dan Brown's adventure novels. Mr. Sorkin's book gave me a deep appreciation of the efforts that the government and the financial firms undertook to save the financial system from collapse. Being a finance professional myself, I thought I had personally read every possible news article about the crisis as it was happening. But the book delved into private and personal conversations and going-ons that were not ever written about and for that, I felt that I was re-living the financial crisis with more insight into "What actually happened". The book also did a good job in providing a brief biography of each important character, which I found entertaining and provided a good backdrop to each character's demeanor and influence.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for those seeking an "insider's story" to the financial crisis.

TBTF provides some interesting background colour on the GFC for sure.

But at its heart, terminally, doesn't convey the gravitas or URGENCY of the times. Which sort of misses the whole point.

Much much better is Hank Paulson's book, then Tim Geithner's, then Ben Bernanke's.

Then TBTF for, as suggested, background colour.

IMHO.

Cheers, Simon

A fantastic chronological retelling of the financial crisis from 2007-2009. The dialgoue mixed with story telling makes the book a real page turner. You really understand how these men and women rose to their positions and made the decisions that effected a generation of lives.

The audiobook is fantastic too.

If you like finance and want a glipse into the minds of the richest/most powerful individuals in U.S. finance -- buy this book.

I state my title for this review, because like BHD, this book chronicles a complex cast of characters who have obviously gotten sucked into a storm the likes had never been seen before. In this one however, a great deal of the storm was in fact of their own making, and many matter were made worse by their refusal to quite believe it. It is literally our modern equivalent to Greek tragedy; where both God's and mortals allow their weakness and vanity to bring down just about everyone involved.

I have thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book, and feel a hundred times better educated for it (and I read The Economist every week, so it's not like I don't pay attention to what's going on). I found the daily, sometimes hourly breakdowns not just interesting, but at times exhilarating in the way that so many moving parts could interact. Each player (and there are MANY) has his or her role, sometimes large and small, but they are all closely intertwined in a complex ecosystem that in turn has huge ripple effects to every part of our world. There are scenes that truly have to be read to be believed, and all through out I kept thinking that if anyone could actually boil this all down it could make a terrific movie.

Perhaps my only wish is that some charts and timelines had been provided along with the "Cast of Characters" included in the beginning of the book. It took me quite a while to get a handle on just who everyone was, and often it's not easy to figure out what each company is actually in the business of. In some ways, that's part of the point of it all- it's all a little too complicated to keep in check. Which is not to say efforts should be made to do so.

At times, hilarious, and others infuriating, this is THE book to read to educate yourself not just about the financial crisis, but about what happening today on Wall Street too.

This chronicle will be understood most easily by those insiders to the investment banking community who may have been outsiders to the small leadership group at the center of events. For outsiders to the investment banking community, this book may simply be a difficult to follow assembly of events. But the book still has much to offer in its personal sketches of the participants in the drama and its tales of the instrusion of professional responsibility on personal time: important family plans disrupted, destroyed; long suffering family members carrying the burden unheard from, unseen. As for culture and language it is refreshing that some of the direct quotations in this book lack the F-word. Federal Reserve officials seem less likely than others to use it. The captains of Wall Street finance seem to rely on it a lot. Given the F-word's ambiguity, it may be no wonder that people with such limited verbal horizons got into so much trouble. Perhaps their minds are as clouded as the meaning of the F-word itself. Maybe it works like this: wooly thinking and obscene language (pay levels too?) lead to hubris and destructive behavior. When the destructiveness gets too great, the destroyers reach out to the Federal Reserve where the neither the vernacular nor the thinking is wooly. In the hands of the "main street"ers this book will do nothing to create sympathy for those on Wall Street. The lack of intellectual content makes this book a quick read that requires little effort to race through. Along the way this reader developed a profound respect for the author's ability to collect and carefully organize so much interview data, and also for his apparent unwillingness to mince words. The approach reveals many personality and style weaknesses in the central players without making these realities an excuse for editorialization. All in all, well done!

Unfortunately, the author pays scant attention to the two enabling factors that began blowing the great asset bubble in his story. The "great enablers" I refer to are:

1) political coercion and taxpayer-funded backstops to supply credit to any home purchaser with a pulse and

2) millions of borrowers (a majority of defaults) with little regard to living within their means.

The personal responsibility factor is notably absent in several books like this one. It's much easier to foist blame on the lenders and institutional investors without mention of how the noose was handed to them in the first place.

This was a dissatisfying book for me, perhaps because I started reading it after finishing All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis. That book is meticulously researched, and finishes with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. I was looking at this book as being a narrative sequel, but in terms of coverage it only exceeded the prior book by a few months. It ends with the passage of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) otherwise known as "The Bailout", and therefore adds only a little more in terms of the timeline. I was a bit frustrated I admit at how this book didn't cover the first year of the Obama presidency - but then perhaps those events were too fresh when it was written and not yet ready for writing.

As a historical record this book does itself a disservice by being too populist in tone and style. At times you can feel the author playing up someone's version of events and painting them (or others) in a skewed light. Throughout, the level of rigor in fact-checking, and more importantly, the depth of understanding of events and their causes feels lacking. Still, it is a good light read (in a way) and picks up speed in the second half although I found the first half a labor to read.

If you've seen the movie, the book adds very little. You are likely better off reading "All the Devils are Here" for a proper rooted history of the crisis.

Well-researched insight into the lack of regulation of the big banks. Sorkin illustrates the lack of any corporate conscience in the large financial corporations. These felt no civic responsibility to even their own customers, let alone the broader public of the country in which they wield their enormous financial bludgeons. The result was the near-collapse of not only the American economy, but also that of the entire globe.

Very dense with details and atmosphere, the book does offer remarkable insights and a "you are there" perspective. I found it hard to keep people/companies straight but part of that was the chessboard nature of the events of the moment. It left me with no confidence that lessons had been learned and that we would not pass this way again.

If you were expecting investigative journalism, you'll be sorely disappointed. This is more of a fly-on-the-wall account. Tim was wearing a blue tie, Hank dry heaved, Vikram said this and Jamie said that. IMHO, Andrew Ross Sorkin has traded access for journalistic integrity. To make an analogy, this is a description of who was wearing what at the crime scene, NOT CSI style detective work. If you're looking for the inside scoop on why AIG got bailed out and gave Goldman 100 cents on the dollar, you won't find it in this book. The Lehman repo 105 thing..sorry..not here, you'll have to be satisfied with pages upon pages of poor Dick Fuld's state of mind.

The book did a fantastic job reconstructing the scenes leading to the collapse of Lehman Brothers. I expected the author to provide insight into why the financial crisis happened, but the book instead focused on how. This is more about history than providing new information.

This book provides an in-depth chronological account of our country's financial melt down. It walks the reader through all of the institutions and players who took part in the events in the credit crisis. At times it kept me turning the pages and at other times I had to skip ahead. If you are looking for a more entertaining read on the subject I would recommend "The Big Short" or "The Greatest Trade Ever". They are both a little lighter and more entertaining.

I saw Mr. Sorkin on Charlie Rose several nights ago, and for the first time (in a year of kindleing), put the DVR on hold, and ordered the book from bed. I'm now on chapter 14 and can't put it down.

I've always had a great deal of respect for Mr. Sorkin--a regular on Charlie Rose. But this book goes beyond his live interviews and is so beautifully organized, you feel you truly ARE a fly on the wall of all the Wall Street types as they decide how to let their firms bottom out while enriching themselves.