Conspiracy of Fools

A True Story

By: Kurt Eichenwald

Narrated by: Stephen Lang

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

From an award-winning New York Times reporter comes the full, mind-boggling true story of the lies, crimes, and ineptitude behind the Enron scandal that imperiled a presidency, destroyed a marketplace, and changed Washington and Wall Street forever.

It was the corporate collapse that appeared to come out of nowhere. In late 2001, the Enron Corporation—a darling of the financial world, a company whose executives were friends of presidents and the powerful—imploded virtually overnight, leaving vast wreckage in its wake and sparking a criminal investigation that would last for years.

Kurt Eichenwald transforms the unbelievable story of the Enron scandal into a rip-roaring narrative of epic proportions, taking listeners behind every closed door—from the Oval Office to the executive suites, from the highest reaches of the Justice Department to the homes and bedrooms of the top officers. It is a tale of global reach—from Houston to Washington, from Bombay to London, from Munich to Sao Paolo—laying out the unbelievable scenes that twisted together to create this shocking true story.

Eichenwald reveals never-disclosed details of a story that features a cast including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul O’Neill, Harvey Pitt, Colin Powell, Gray Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alan Greenspan, Ken Lay, Andy Fastow, Jeff Skilling, Bill Clinton, Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone. With its you-are-there glimpse into the secretive worlds of corporate power, Conspiracy of Fools is an all-true financial and political thriller of cinematic proportions.

©2005 Kurt Eichenwald (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Good Introduction to Enron

The book is very well read, but the author focuses a little too much on pinning the blame solely on Andrew Fastow. It's hard to believe that he fooled everyone. Could have been more balanced by holding the other characters accountable (Skilling, Lay, board members), and should have focused more on Capitol Hill support / involvement in this whole mess. Nevertheless, the book does offer insights into a series of complex actions and transactions that led to the demise of Enron. Jury is still out, though (literally). I gave it only 3 stars as I feel the material only covers 60% of the "real story". Great reader, though.

Soild View

This is a review of the factual elements of the building and decline of the now household word:
Enron. Appropriately titled - it's a modern version of the Emporer's New Clothes

Want to get an education?

Then get the audio book Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eschewal. Listening to this won?t get you a degree, but it will let you know what is going on?and it will keep you awake too.

The writer has done a fantastic job?and I say this as a fellow-writer. It is practically a movie script written as a novel?including settings, actions and expressions for the actors. The narrator should get a medal too.

This could be a TV series?but this won?t happen because it is too embarrassing. It wasn?t just some Enron executives who were fools, it was America itself. The dot-com boom was the biggest foolishness America ever experienced, an experience it may never recover from. It destroyed some of our basic values. It put the system firmly in control.

It?s easy to see what happened from a distance, or at least it seems easy. But when you look at the details, as this book does, you see how many people were involved?some of them striving mightily to keep it from happening; some of them, like Ken Lay, so enraptured with his power he couldn?t see what was going on under this nose; and the white-collar criminals who thought they would get away with it?and almost did. And everything in-between, including accountants who looked the other way, while holding out their hands.

Reality is very complicated, and it is tempting to simplify it into a morality play, and just through the bastards in jail. But if greed and stupidity were crimes, no jails would be big enough. And greed and stupidity are becoming bigger, not smaller?becoming global.

Conspiracy of Fools

This is one of the best books I have ever "read". It's a great crime novel, unfortunately a true story. The author makes it very easy to understand all of the theft and fraud that took place at Enron. Do not feel daunted by the length of the book. It is a compelling listen.

Amazing story, superb narrative

Would you consider the audio edition of Conspiracy of Fools to be better than the print version?

The narrator is brilliant, and very well connected to the way the story is written.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The whole experience is thrilling. The book evolves as a mastery novel, enriched by real life details.

What a book! History was never so interesting.

Riveting. The factual details used in the "story" and the way the author built the plot, step by step, made it hard to imagine how this could have happened -- it is no wonder our economy took such a shock from this and the other corporate scandals that took place in that era.

Fascinating! Highly recommended!

what a story!

Eichenwald does a great job of putting the listener right into the picture of what was going on at Enron. You feel as if you were looking over the shoulders of the key players as it was happening.

OUTSTANDING WORK

Again this is one book that the detail is absolutely supreme,Very well reconstructed! Absolutely two thumbs up great work Kurt Eichenwald !!!!!!!!!!

Very Complicated and Difficult to Follow

What disappointed you about Conspiracy of Fools?

The cast of characters was unbelievable....were they all necessary for the telling of this story? There were as many people as in a Movie epic; just more and more names...it just got very complex. I would like to have a condensed version of how it all came tumbling down, but so many people were involved that it was difficult to keep track of them all. Also, there is a lot of conjecture in this story. I did not really enjoy this book. I don't understand a lot about finances, so maybe that was my problem. What I was looking for was Enron for Dummies 101.

What do you think your next listen will be?

My next listen will be Dickens or Austen....an entirely different genre.

What does Stephen Lang bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He did a good job...it's pretty straightforward, so it was fine. Not great, just fine.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

This book filled me with anger at the incredible GREED of the people involved. I could not believe how greedy Fastow was and yet, he got off with the least amount of time. He should be in prison for a very long time. Also, I felt such sadness for the employees who placed all their life savings in this company. They had such faith. And, they are the ones to suffer, while the big wigs just get off with some time in prison, they get out to spend all their millions. Kenneth Lay was an unbelievable CEO; he had no idea of what was going on in his company. Overall, this book is scary about corporate greed and it will likely happen again, for sure.

Any additional comments?

I don't really recommend this book to anyone as it is quite challenging to follow. No wonder Kenneth Lay didn't understand what was going on!