History: Personal Accounts

Age of Turbulence

Alan Greenspan
	2007

For almost 20 years, Alan Greenspan was the mover of markets—the man Americans trusted to keep the economy ticking and to intervene when things went awry. His book is half autobiography and half commentary on the financial state of the world ... Read more

Demon of Our Own Design

Richard Bookstaber
		2007

Richard Bookstaber knows his way around Wall Street. Thirty years ago, he transitioned from academia to practice. He has worked in trading and risk management since. Along the way, he wrote one of the best introductions to options trading ever published. In this new book, he takes on multiple tasks ... Read more

How I [Became A] Quant

How does a book offering interviews with 25 leading quants sound? If you think "quant" means financial engineer, you'll be disappointed. Except for Peter Jackel, none of this book's 25 interviewees is a financial engineer working on a trading floor. Another meaning of "quant" is quantitative trading—that is, technical analysis for hedge funds. Most of the interviewees seem to do that. The rest mostly work in a management or marketing capacity for data vendors, software houses or consultancies. Accordingly, the book falls short of the title's promise ...

Confessions of a Municipal Bond Salesman

These are the tongue-in-cheek memoirs of a man who went from Hollywood to become an unabashed salesman and promoter of municipal bond investing. Along the way, there is a stint in the army, defaulted NYC bonds, SEC investigations, senate hearings and adventures with Madison Avenue. Very humorous, the book reads like one of the author's sales pitches, so sit back and enjoy ...

Hedge Hogging

Barton Biggs
		2006

Barton Biggs has over 30 years of experience in investment management. Most of this was with Morgan Stanley Asset Management. In 2003, he cashed in, parlaying his Morgan Stanley contacts into a prime brokerage deal and launching what would become the largest new hedge fund of that year ... Read more

Final Accounting
Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen

Barbara Toffler and Jennifer Reingold
		2003

Almost a footnote to the 2001 bankruptcy of energy trading powerhouse Enron was the demise of the firm's auditor, Arthur Andersen. Arthur Andersen was one of the "Big 5" accounting firms. It had a proud tradition of integrity, which soured during the late 20th century. Eager to make millions of dollars in consulting and auditing fees, the firm ... Read more

Anatomy of Greed
The Unshredded Truth from an Enron Insider

Brian Cruver
		2002

Imagine an enormous trading floor where no one is trading. Half-edited resumes are up on every computer screen. Footballs sail through the air. Employees chat about whether the firm's stock has fallen too far and maybe today is the day to buy ... Read more

Monkey business

Rolfe and Troob share their experiences as junior investment bankers at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in the 1990s. In the hierarchy of investment bankers, the lowest level is held by three-year analysts. Many go on to business school and return as associates. The authors were associates who despaired of the drudgery and quit. I only read half the book because I found its crass language and bathroom humor too unpleasant. Still, if you are considering a career in investment banking, you would be foolish not to read this first-hand account ...

FIASCO

Frank Partnoy
		1997

Frank Partnoy was a derivatives salesman for First Boston and then Morgan Stanley during the mid 1990s. His career was on a roll when he was transferred to Tokyo, became disillusioned, and quit. He burned many bridges when he penned this book chronicling how investment firms foisted complex and overpriced derivatives on pension plans, insurance companies and other "buy side" organizations ... Read more

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Liars Poker

Michael Lewis
		1989

Michael Lewis shows us how things really worked on Wall Street in the early 1980's. In the Salomon training program, a roomful of trainees is stunned speechless by the profanity of the Human Piranha. Out on the trading floor, bond traders throw telephones at the heads of underlings ... Read more