The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

· Sold by Penguin
4.4
47 reviews
Ebook
480
Pages
Eligible
70% price drop on May 18

About this ebook

In this tenth-anniversary edition, acclaimed investigative journalists Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind deliver the definitive account of the fall of Enron, one of the biggest scandals in corporate America history.
 
Meticulously researched and character driven, The Smartest Guys in the Room takes the reader deep into Enron's past—and behind the closed doors of private meetings. Drawing on a wide range of unique sources, the book follows Enron's rise from obscurity to the top of the business world to its disastrous demise. It reveals as never before major characters such as Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andy Fastow, as well as lesser-known players like Cliff Baxter and Rebecca Mark. 
 
It is a story of greed, arrogance, and deceit—a microcosm of all that can go wrong with American business. Above all, it's a fascinating human drama that has proven to be the authoritative account of the Enron scandal. In this tenth anniversary edition, McLean and Elkind revisit the fall of Enron and its aftermath in a new chapter.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
47 reviews
Patrick Kim
February 18, 2020
Truth is crazier than fiction. White collar crime documenting at its finest, with a structure that most people can follow and coherent sane storytelling. The author takes the time to explain complicated financial instruments and why they present such a big conflict of interest.
4 people found this review helpful
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Paul Demetre
August 24, 2019
You would never think that a 600+ page book about shady business people who used shady accounting would be riveting, but it is.
3 people found this review helpful
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Ramadhan Putera Djaffri
November 26, 2015
A great story written in a rather great style
8 people found this review helpful
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About the author

Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind are Fortune senior writers. McLean, a former investment banking analyst for Goldman Sachs, lives in New York City. Her March 2001 article in Fortune, "Is Enron Overpriced?," was the first in a national publication to openly question the company's dealings.

Peter Elkind is an award-winning investigative reporter and the author of The Death Shift. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Fortune, and Texas Monthly.

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