Too Big to Fail

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

By: Andrew Ross Sorkin

Narrated by: William Hughes

Length: 21 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

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

A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America's financial history by an acclaimed New York Times reporter. Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true, behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami.

From inside the corner office at Lehman Brothers to secret meetings in South Korea and the corridors of Washington, Too Big to Fail is the definitive story of the most powerful men and women in finance and politics grappling with success and failure, ego and greed, and, ultimately, the fate of the world's economy.

"We've got to get some foam down on the runway!" a sleepless Timothy Geithner, the then-president of the Federal Reserve of New York, would tell Henry M. Paulson, the Treasury secretary, about the catastrophic crash the world's financial system would experience. Through unprecedented access to the players involved, Too Big to Fail re-creates all the drama and turmoil, revealing neverdisclosed details and elucidating how decisions made on Wall Street over the past decade sowed the seeds of the debacle.

This true story is not just a look at banks that were "too big to fail"; it is a real-life thriller with a cast of bold-faced names who themselves thought they were too big to fail.

©2009 Andrew Ross Sorkin (P)2009 Penguin Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Andrew Ross Sorkin pens what may be the definitive history of the banking crisis." ( The Atlantic Monthly)
"Andrew Ross Sorkin has written a fascinating, scene-by-scene saga of the eyeless trying to march the clueless through Great Depression II." (Tom Wolfe)

An Eye Opener

Great non-fiction audio books are often destroyed by the selected Narrator - NOT in this case. Finance has never been a real item of interest to me so I was obviously very dubious going into the the book, however Mr Hughes excellent narration sustained my interest throughout the entire read. Well done Sir!

a slow start but picks up

i may have more questions after reading than before, but it was insightful. Deeper exploration of fed/treasury actions after Obama took office would have been nice.

a look behind the financial meltdown curtain

first, you have to understand this book was in 2009, right after the 2008 decline. so in a way, it's viewpoint is not complete.
didn't like: author's note and prologue, in way this is quite complicated and would have been nice to have it also explained for us dummies (trying to keep track of all the terms and viewpoints was overwhelming at times), didn't throw light on the end user (ie those who got royally screwed).
liked: threw light on all sides.

Not for beginners

While this book is an accurate account of behind-the-scenes part of the financial crisis- I'd recommend michael Lewis's books to understand the collapse better.

This was useful for seeing what the leaders of the private sector and government did in the worst moments of the crisis and it gives balance and opposition to the opinion I've heard that Wall Street always knew that the instability it was creating could be shifted to the tax payer.

It spends relatively little time addressing the instruments and mechanisms that created the crisis, so people wanting to emerge with an understanding of why the markets had such incredible issues will be hearing it in the terms familiar to the industry but not so much for the layman.

It was none-the-less very interesting to hear exactly how the key players acted and what they said.

Fascinating . . . And Disgusting

Sorkin’s account is fascinating. His research is meticulous (but did he really know the exact dialogue and wardrobe throughout?). The crisis is presented as a thriller and I looked forward to the coming chapters. Nevertheless, the figures who cooperated with his research (Jamie Dimon, Tim Geithner,Hank Paulson?) are depicted as saviors and heroes. I suspect Sheila Bair and Christopher Cox did not cooperate as they are portrayed unattractively. Speaking of which, I found it odd that Sorkin described some male executives as “handsome” (odd). While I recommend this account of the fiscal crisis, be prepared to be completely disgusted by the incestuous relationship between fabulously wealthy (universally white, make) CEOs and government officials. Also, while Sorkin is not judgmental, you will finish assured that Treasury picked winners and losers and that the Wall Street titans who benefited from wildly inflated balance sheets were bailed out while lesser folk and Lehman Brothers were left to the fortunes of the “free” market.

Couln't stop listening to this book

Great book that describes in details about the events that led up to the 2008 crash.

Too Important to Ignore

For those that are interested in gaining an understanding of what really happened and how close our economy came to collapsing this is a must read. It goes way past the headlines and populist rantings to the facts and does it in a very interesting format. You do feel like you were there.

Great book for context

Added a lot of information not in the film
I would have liked it updated and sometimes although well read it’s not acted out

Too much cover for Paulson

This story was not news to me, but I heard so many talk about Andrew Ross Sorkin's book and I thought that I was missing something. It was an enjoyable listen but I got the feeling that the author held back on his criticism for Paulson and Geithner. Obviously, as a popular blogger for the NYTimes, and a young man, Sorkin was making sure that he would be able to make calls and have them returned. My problem with the story started with how he let these two off the hook and I just didnt trust Sorkin's analysis later on with some of the backroom deals where I had no frame of reference.
As a story, it is well done, but the author lost me when he provided cover for Paulson obvious mismanagement.

Very great explanation of a very historic event!

Gave good insight as to how the deals got done in a potentially devastating crisis. If you like history with a razor's edge get this book!