House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street By William D. Cohan

Review :

• “A masterly reconstruction of Bear Stearns implosion – a tumultuous episode in Wall Street history that still reverberates throughout our economy today, meticulous reporting, first drafts of history don’t get much better than this” – Bloomberg
• “Cohan vividly documents the mix of arrogance, greed, recklessness, and pettiness that took down the 86 year old brokerage house and then the entire economy. It’s a page-turner in the tradition of the 1990 Barbarians at the Gate by Bryan Burrough and John Heylar, offering both a seemingly comprehensive understanding of the business and wide access to insiders, hard to put down, especially thanks to its dishy, often profane, quotes from insiders” – BusinessWeek
• “A riveting blow-by-blow account of the days leading up to the government-backed shotgun wedding (to JPM).” – The Economist