Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
by Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
List Price:
Our Price: $7.05
You Save: $19.90 (74%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.70 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Bethany McLean, Peter ElkindEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2003-10-13
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 464
Book Reviews of Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
Book Review: Interesting Book..
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a very interesting and fascinating book. It describes quite well and in detail the fall of Enron. Although there were so many characters, it was well-organized and easy to follow. I would recommend this book if you are interested in the fall of Enron or corporate greed. It's rather interesting. However, I would have like more on where the key players ended up as it didn't seem to get into that great of detail at the end.
More Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron reviews:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Summary of Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
What went wrong with American business at the end of the 20th century? Until the spring of 2001, Enron epitomized the triumph of the New Economy. Feared by rivals, worshipped by investors, Enron seemingly could do no wrong. Its profits rose every year; its stock price surged ever upward; its leaders were hailed as visionaries. Then a young Fortune writer, Bethany McLean, wrote an article posing a simple question how, exactly, does Enron make its money? Within a year Enron was facing humiliation and bankruptcy, the largest in US history, which caused Americans to lose faith in a system that rewarded top insiders with millions of dollars, while small investors lost everything. It was revealed that Enron was a company whose business was an illusion, an illusion that Wall Street was willing to accept even though they knew what the real truth was. This book - fully updated for the paperback - tells the extraordinary story of Enron's fall.Like its subject, The Smartest Guys in the Room is ambitious, grand in scope, and ruthless in its dealings. Unlike Enron, the Texas-based energy giant that has come to represent the post-millennium collapse of 1990s go-go corporate culture, it's also ultimately successful. Penned by Fortune scribes Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, the 400-page-plus chronicle of the scandal digs deep inside the numbers while, wisely, maintaining focus on the "smart guys" deep-frying the books. The likes of paternal but disengaged CEO Ken Lay (dubbed "Kenny Boy" by George W. Bush, one of many prominent public figures with whom he rubbed shoulders), cutthroat man-behind-the-curtain Jeff Skilling, and ethically blind numbers whiz Andy Fastow vividly come to life as they make a mockery of conventional accounting practices and grow increasingly arrogant and bind to their collective hubris. They're not a likable lot, and the writers find it difficult to suppress their astonishment and revulsion with the crew who rapidly went from golden boys and girls of the financial world to pariahs when the bill finally came due. The authors' unrepressed sarcasms are more than often unnecessarily given the scope of the outrage. Enron's leading lights were or a time celebrated for their ability to concoct nearly unfathomable business schemes to hide mounting shortfalls and keeping track on their machinations can be a chore, but, by sticking hard to the story behind the fall, McLean and Elkind have reported and written the definitive account of the Enron debacle. --Steven Stolder
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Business Books
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing (Revised and Updated)by Burton G. Malkiel
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2007-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.79
Price in other shops:
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Storyby Kurt Eichenwald
Broadway; Published: 2005-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.21
Price in other shops:
Den of Thievesby James B. Stewart
Touchstone Books; Published: 1992-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabiscoby Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
Published: 2003-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enronby Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
Published: 2003-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.53
Price in other shops:
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Managementby Roger Lowenstein
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2001-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Streetby Michael Lewis
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1990-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.71
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Marketsby Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2005-08-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.24
Price in other shops:
Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersenby Barbara Ley Toffler, Jennifer Reingold
Broadway Business; Published: 2004-04-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops:
The Predators' Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raidersby Connie Bruck
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1989-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.74
Price in other shops:
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbableby Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Random House; Published: 2007-04-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.70
Price in other shops:
Den of Thievesby James B. Stewart
Touchstone Books; Published: 1992-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops:
Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabiscoby Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
Collins Business; Published: 2008-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.15
Price in other shops:
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Storyby Kurt Eichenwald
Broadway; Published: 2005-12-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.24
Price in other shops:
Liar's Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Streetby Michael Lewis
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1990-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the RoomMAGNOLIA HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Release date: 2006-01-17; DVD
Best price: $7.84
Price in other shops:
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Managementby Roger Lowenstein
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2001-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.12
Price in other shops: