- Paperback: 672 pages
- Publisher: Anchor Books; Reprint edition (10 Jan 2012)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0767928261
- ISBN-13: 978-0767928267
- Product Dimensions: 15.4 x 2.7 x 23.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,058,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
Exhaustive, revelatory...engrossing...Cohan...is...a sympathetic listener, at his best once he has found a few people on the inside to pump for gossip....Such insights make Money and Power the most penetrating of the three major attempts to tell the Goldman story....Cohan revels in a good bust-up. (John Gapper Financial Times )
Cohan offers the most human portrayal of the firm yet...Seems destined to be a runaway bestseller. Such is the wonder of Goldman Sachs. (Ian McGugan Bloomberg Businessweek )
[An] imposing history...Cohan evinces an eye for telling images and an ear for deadpan quotations...brings the bank's sometimes "schizophrenic" behavior to vivid life. (James Pressley Bloomberg News )
[Cohan's] technique combines mastery of financial detail with extensive use of quotes to catch the authentic Wall Street voice... Cohan has done a comprehensive and highly professional job (Martin Vander Weyer Literary Review )
A rollercoaster account of how Goldman Sachs does business, and the best analysis yet of its increasingly tangled web of conflicts, by a master-storyteller (The Economist Books of the Year 2011 ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Cohan offers the most human portrayal of the firm yet...Seems destined to be a runaway bestseller. Such is the wonder of Goldman Sachs. (Ian McGugan Bloomberg Businessweek )
[An] imposing history...Cohan evinces an eye for telling images and an ear for deadpan quotations...brings the bank's sometimes "schizophrenic" behavior to vivid life. (James Pressley Bloomberg News )
[Cohan's] technique combines mastery of financial detail with extensive use of quotes to catch the authentic Wall Street voice... Cohan has done a comprehensive and highly professional job (Martin Vander Weyer Literary Review )
A rollercoaster account of how Goldman Sachs does business, and the best analysis yet of its increasingly tangled web of conflicts, by a master-storyteller (The Economist Books of the Year 2011 ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Description
The bestselling author of the acclaimed House of Cards and The Last Tycoons turns his spotlight on to Goldman Sachs and the controversy behind its success.
From the outside, Goldman Sachs is a perfect company. The Goldman PR machine loudly declares it to be smarter, more ethical, and more profitable than all of its competitors. Behind closed doors, however, the firm constantly straddles the line between conflict of interest and legitimate deal making, wields significant influence over all levels of government, and upholds a culture of power struggles and toxic paranoia. And its clever bet against the mortgage market in 2007—unknown to its clients—may have made the financial ruin of the Great Recession worse. Money and Power reveals the internal schemes that have guided the bank from its founding through its remarkable windfall during the 2008 financial crisis. Through extensive research and interviews with the inside players, including current CEO Lloyd Blankfein, William Cohan constructs a nuanced, timely portrait of Goldman Sachs, the company that was too big—and too ruthless—to fail.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a great book. Following William D Cohan's The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.: The Secret History of Lazard Freres & Co. and House of Cards: How Wall Street's Gamblers Broke Capitalism on the crash on Wall Street I am not at all surprised that he has decided to publish an unauthorised history on Wall Street's enfant terrible, Goldman Sachs (GS). And he does an excellent job. In 2008, Charles D. Ellis published The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs and whilst that is also a rather good book, I must admit that I prefer Cohan's writing style over that of Ellis.
About the first favour you can do yourself when you spot this book is to ignore the snake on the cover and the second title. I suppose they are there for marketing purpose but they confuse the issue. Once you have read the first 50-odd pages you are beginning to understand what a tremendous amount of research must have gone into the book.
Cohan tells the history of GS from its beginnings in 1869 and although it is a well-told story the more interesting period for me personally were the 1980s right up to now.
It seems that GS never really had any succession problems until the time Robert Rubin decided to join the Clinton Administration; every succession after that appeared to involve a lot of infighting. That's at least the impression the author left me with.
One of the things which horrified me was the insider trading scandal one of the GS chaps was involved in the 1980s and even though it became pretty obvious pretty quickly that the chap was innocent he still pleaded guilty to escape the witch hunt. That makes you wonder how many other innocent people ended up in prison just to get their privacy back.
The last 100-odd pages deal with the mortgage market crash. You do yourself a favour if you have read The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine because it is excellent background information. You should also have a look at The Greatest Trade Ever: How John Paulson Bet Against the Markets and Made $20 Billion because it is a good account of John Paulson's investment strategy, which subsequently became that of GS.
If one were to look at this whole affair objectively (if that was possible) one ought to congratulate GS for coming to its senses and getting rid of its long position and shorting the market. At the same time, one ought to slap the heads of quite a few chaps from Bear Stearns and Lehman and a few other banks for betting their last shirt on one strategy without ever considering a potential downside. In hindsight this looked incredibly stupid.
I am not surprised that GS finds itself at the receiving end of the rest of the world. Success makes enemies, especially if it is one against the rest. Nevertheless, GS ought to continue to do what they do best and perhaps work on their PR a little bit.
All told I love Cohan's way of telling the story, his sense of humour and the suspense he manages to build up. Even though he uses a lot of information from GS it appears to be his own story rather than one written on behalf of GS.
Good show.
About the first favour you can do yourself when you spot this book is to ignore the snake on the cover and the second title. I suppose they are there for marketing purpose but they confuse the issue. Once you have read the first 50-odd pages you are beginning to understand what a tremendous amount of research must have gone into the book.
Cohan tells the history of GS from its beginnings in 1869 and although it is a well-told story the more interesting period for me personally were the 1980s right up to now.
It seems that GS never really had any succession problems until the time Robert Rubin decided to join the Clinton Administration; every succession after that appeared to involve a lot of infighting. That's at least the impression the author left me with.
One of the things which horrified me was the insider trading scandal one of the GS chaps was involved in the 1980s and even though it became pretty obvious pretty quickly that the chap was innocent he still pleaded guilty to escape the witch hunt. That makes you wonder how many other innocent people ended up in prison just to get their privacy back.
The last 100-odd pages deal with the mortgage market crash. You do yourself a favour if you have read The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine because it is excellent background information. You should also have a look at The Greatest Trade Ever: How John Paulson Bet Against the Markets and Made $20 Billion because it is a good account of John Paulson's investment strategy, which subsequently became that of GS.
If one were to look at this whole affair objectively (if that was possible) one ought to congratulate GS for coming to its senses and getting rid of its long position and shorting the market. At the same time, one ought to slap the heads of quite a few chaps from Bear Stearns and Lehman and a few other banks for betting their last shirt on one strategy without ever considering a potential downside. In hindsight this looked incredibly stupid.
I am not surprised that GS finds itself at the receiving end of the rest of the world. Success makes enemies, especially if it is one against the rest. Nevertheless, GS ought to continue to do what they do best and perhaps work on their PR a little bit.
All told I love Cohan's way of telling the story, his sense of humour and the suspense he manages to build up. Even though he uses a lot of information from GS it appears to be his own story rather than one written on behalf of GS.
Good show.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I agree with the previos review, this book was not very interesting. The message seems to be that GS is such a great and excellent despite occasional bad apples. After reading 400 pages of rather dull description of daily life, I gave up. I believe I did not miss anything. I used to work with GS and went to see their offices in London and New York. Yes, there were some bright people, but also pretty averages. The difference between those two groups was that smart ones took me for a pizza whereas the lesser ones tried to presuade me with some Michelin stars.
Of course it is hard to write an interesting or entertaining book about perfect firm and its semi-gods. The book about Bear Sterns was much more fun to read, similarly to the one about Lezard. I would have liked to know more profound analysis why GS is such a glorious firm. Also instead of repeating constantly that getting a job is hard, it would have been interesting to understand why these people were picked, what made them different from the rest. Yes yes they all went to HBS or like and after 20 or so interviews got a job, but why? I bet a great majority of those interviewed were smart in their way, otherwise not get an interview in the first place?
If you have been reading FT, Economist and some alternative media, this book has very little extra.
Of course it is hard to write an interesting or entertaining book about perfect firm and its semi-gods. The book about Bear Sterns was much more fun to read, similarly to the one about Lezard. I would have liked to know more profound analysis why GS is such a glorious firm. Also instead of repeating constantly that getting a job is hard, it would have been interesting to understand why these people were picked, what made them different from the rest. Yes yes they all went to HBS or like and after 20 or so interviews got a job, but why? I bet a great majority of those interviewed were smart in their way, otherwise not get an interview in the first place?
If you have been reading FT, Economist and some alternative media, this book has very little extra.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
interesting in places, self-indulgent in others, dull and laborious in some but then rivetting in others. I skipped at least 200 pages of financial, techno bable in the middle and still got the message (i hope) of the book
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