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Money And Power: How Goldman Sachs Came To Rule The World (2011)

by William D. Cohan(Favorite Author)
3.72 of 5 Votes: 4
ISBN
038552384X (ISBN13: 9780385523844)
languge
English
publisher
Doubleday
review 1: Cohan has done a remarkable job by providing a blow by blow account on the history and influence of Goldman Sachs ever since the firm's birth about 142 years ago. The company's history is filled with conflicting interests, events, and intense emotions. “Goldman Sachs has been both envied and feared for having the best talents, the best clients, and the best political connections, and for its ability to alchemize them into extreme profitability and market prowess.”The saying "It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation but you can lose it in a minute" seems to apply flawlessly to Goldman Sachs' leaders' controversial decisions before and during times such as the global financial crisis (2007 – 2012). Their conduct has brought not only the firm, but Wall Street cult... moreure out into the open which “traditionally has been seen as an engine of growth betting on America's successes, and not its failures”. Reformation cannot happen overnight, but by displaying the facts for the general public to see, we are catalyzing progressive change on Wall Street. Cohan goes deeply into the firm's history and does an extensive and brutally honest analysis on the world's most powerful investment bank. A job well done.
review 2: Long long book that chronicles the full history of goldman sachs. I found many parts of it very boring, and wasn't sure i'd make it through to the end. After about half of the book, however, it became much more interesting to me as it focused on the last 20-30 years which is much more relevant to the existing banking system.The chapters on how goldman avoided the massive pain from the financial crisis were awesome. Cohan used excerpts from a ton of internal goldman e-mails to narrate the mortgage dept's trading strategy which I thought was fascinating. Basically a juiced up version of one of stories from "the big short". less
Reviews (see all)
kimberly
Cohan clearly had great access to both past and present participants in GS management.
katy
Takes endurance but enlightening as to the evolution of big banking.
kamacedo
Good detailed History. It tailed of towards the end though.
mooby
Eye opening.
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