House of Cards (book)

For the British political novel and television series, see House of Cards.
House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street  
Author(s) William D. Cohan
Country United States
Language English
Subject(s) Corporate History, Finance, Financial crises, Investment banking
Publisher Doubleday
Publication date March 2009 (2009-03)
Media type Print (hardback)
Pages 468 pp.
ISBN 0385528264

House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street is a 2009 book written by William D. Cohan. It chronicles the history of Bear Stearns, from its founding in 1923 to its fire sale to JP Morgan in 2008, following the subprime mortgage crisis. It also gives the reader an inside glance of Bear Stearns senior management and the company's growth into the fifth largest investment firm, before its collapse by Salim Lewis.

It documents the rise of Alan "Ace" Greenberg, and his unsuccessful power struggle with bridgemaster & bond trader James Cayne, the power struggle between "co-presidents" Warren J. Spector & Alan Schwartz, and the recklessness of the over-leveraged hedge fund supervised by Richard A. Marin & Ralph R. Cioffi.

The book was on the long list for the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.[1] Tim Rutten characterized the book as a "masterfully reported account", and credited the author with a "remarkable gift for plain-spoken explanation."[2]

References

  1. ^ "Business books - 2009 long list". Financial Times. 7 August 2009. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ac05a258-839a-11de-a24e-00144feabdc0.html. Retrieved 2011-03-20. "...William Cohan, the 2007 winner of the prize, was quick enough off the mark with House of Cards, which documents the fall of Bear Stearns in spring 2008, while David Wessel’s In Fed We Trust, an account of how Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, tackled the crisis, brings the story right up to this summer." 
  2. ^ Rutten, Tim (March 6, 2009). "'House of Cards' by William D. Cohan". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/06/entertainment/et-rutten6. Retrieved 2011-03-20.