The Murder of Lehman Brothers: An Insider's Look at the Global Meltdown |  | Author: Joseph Tibman
Publisher: Brick Tower Books
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 4620
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Pages: 245
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 188328371X
Dewey Decimal Number: 338
EAN: 9781883283711
ASIN: 188328371X
Publication Date: October 15, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
On the first anniversary of the murder of Lehman, Joseph Tibman, a 20-year veteran and senior investment banker, reveals in plain English, the people and forces that share responsibility for this catastrophe. His shattering account is told as only a true Lehman insider's account could be told, by someone who spent two decades at the firm. Writing under pseudonym, Joseph Tibman, the author explains the feud that erupted, soon after the death of the last Lehman Family CEO, between the two "houses" of Lehman--the investment bankers and the sales and trading group. He provides the most detailed account on record of the rise of Dick Fuld from junior trader to CEO who rose above his legendary inarticulateness nickname just once, but profoundly, at the seminal, game-changing moment of the 9/11 attacks. The Murder of Lehman Brothers is the story of greed run amok. The story is told in the words of someone who was there when Lehman, post 9/11, became the firm that always outperformed; someone who was a witness to what a small handful of people inside Lehman did to crush it with the assistance of misguided, inept politicians and a dysfunctional, antiquated regulatory infrastructure. The Murder of Lehman Brothers is not only for those who earn their livings (or used to) working in the financial markets. It is written simply for anyone who wants to understand the perfect storm of screw-ups that has led to the current crisis. It is a primer that explains why action must be taken to ensure no one is ever again in a position to dismantle the system or bet the bank, bringing down major institutions and threatening the entire global economy. CLICK ON "SEE ALL EDITORIAL REVIEWS" TO READ THE PROLOGUE, AN AMAZING DICK FULD TALE NEVER BEFORE IN PRINT
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 An authentic view of the financial crisis from the perspective of an insider November 22, 2009
Martin Dirks (San Francisco, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Murder of Lehman Brothers is an authentic view of the financial crisis from an insider. Every word rings true. If your brother had been a brilliant investment banker at Lehman Bothers, this is the story you would have heard when he came to visit over the weekend."
Martin Dirks
Adjunct Professor of Finance, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California
Harvard MBA and former manager of an $800 million portfolio for Harvard University's endowment
 Takes a while to get moving, but helpful insight November 18, 2009
Michael K. Crowley
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is not one of the best books about the financial crisis of 2008, but there are good things about it.
It is authored by an insider who worked at Lehman and has great knowledge of investment banking. Around page 55, he begins to discuss the complicated financial instruments that got us all into trouble: CDOs, Swaps, Mortgage backed securities. His explanations are lucid and enormously helpful.
Also praiseworthy is the author's critique of Lehman itself, and his discussion of inside politics, mistakes that were made and other aspects of the downfall.
My only criticisms are:
The book is not well written. There are many grammatical errors, typos, poorly constructed sentences, and a general abuse of punctuation which distracts from the information being conveyed. I had the feeling that it was not edited by anyone.
It is contradictory. First the author blames senior management for the downfall, then he dumps it all in Paulson's lap. Some of the more recent books take a more balanced approach in trying to come to terms with who was to "blame."
There is much repitition in this book. To reiterate, it suffers terribly from the lack of a good editor.
But it is important in the sense that it represents a contribution to the archive of how to assess the near-cataclysm that happened last year.
Insightful and Entertaining November 16, 2009
G. McDermott
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having followed the events closely, and knowing a lot of the actors involved, The Murder of Lehman is truly insightful and entertaining.
Fantastic Crossover book for non Wall Street Literates! November 9, 2009
Lori Gertz (Long Grove, Il)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book made me feel like I could smell the meltdown. It was written in such an experiential way, no holds barred, without a lot of grandeur by the author. He empowered me to put the pieces of the puzzle together as he placed them in front of me.
The crux of the subprime and substandard issue falls on the rating agencies, but wait...there's more. The greed fueled by blind ambition led the firm to its demise...but wait...there's still more. This poop floats to the top, with blame to be shared from presidential eras bygone. Fingers pointing in all directions, all we really want to know is how the hell this happened?
This book had me at "hello" because of its personal style and intelligence. Tibman was a "lifer" investment-banker kinda guy and it shows in both his insight and explanations. There's no self importance here, in fact, the only thing it left me wanting was to know more about the author, being someone who far more enjoys memoires and biographies to financial rhetoric. I am a crossover reader. While I read business non-fiction like brain candy, I am not a huge reader of Wall Street specific topics. This book is a great crossover read because it is also a human treatment of global proportions. It's a great way to understand what REALLY happened so that rational opinions of the news media can be formulated by everyone this side of the ink.
I believe without a doubt this book should be a curriculum staple in every business school Finance 101 class. How are we to stop the madness unless those of our future understand what really went wrong in order to keep it from happening again in the future?!
An absrbing and enlightening book by an honest insider October 29, 2009
accidentalreviewer (Somers, NY)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I am a retired college professor. Like most Americans, I am not expert in finance and economics. Fortunately my retirement savings are conservatively invested, and so I did not suffer life-changing losses after Lehman filed for bankruptcy protection, but I know many who did. Like many, I found myself anxious to understand what had happened to cause such hardship for so many people. I have never before written an Amazon review, but am inspired to do so now because reading "The Murder of Lehman Brothers" profoundly transformed and deepened my understanding of the financial crisis. As a former educator I am immensely impressed by this book. It explains the financial crisis for a reader who is not an economist or a financial professional. At the same time, like the most enjoyable of books, I could not put this down. I was hooked as soon as I read the prologue.
I am not generally a reader of business books. However, because the financial crisis has so deeply affected out country, I wanted to understand its causes. While I knew the crisis could not be solely blamed on Lehman Brothers, I thought a Lehman book would explain what happened at that investment bank in a larger context. I saw Lawrence McDonald's "Colossal Failure of Common Sense," a book by a former Lehman employee, on the New York Times bestseller list and decide to give it a try. The book was a highly readable disappointment. It did in fact simplistically blame the Lehman failure on a handful of Lehman executives, and did so with considerable anger. It is a given that large global events are rarely so easily explained.
Several weeks later I came across Joseph Tibman's book. To be honest, the dramatic title was initially a turn-off. I expected the book to be mainstream pulp by a greedy investment banker seeking to cash in on the crisis. However, as I flipped through the book, I could see that this was actually something very different. There were chapters devoted to the causes of the crisis. Also, I noticed that there were a substantial number of footnotes on many of the pages. These explain financial terms and concepts so that a reader like me can more thoroughly understand what happened.
most importantly, this book enables its readers to understand events that were previously too technical to grasp. At the same time this is by no means a textbook. In fact the prologue and ther passages read like a novel. What Tibman accomplished is a neat trick that, as a published professor, I know is extraordinarily difficult. He has written a book one "cannot put down,' a page-turner that also teaches. After completing "The Murder of Lehman," I found myself explaining the financial crisis to friends. To my great surprise, when they challenged my reasoning, I was able to substantively respond. It was only then that I realized that the book subtly allowed me to form my own view of certain events open to interpretation. While Tibman has many strong views and an ability to communicate his incites, not everything in "The Murder of Lehman Brothers" is presented as black ans white. This is one of the books accomplishments. It does not pretend to have all of the answers. As is always the case with events of this magoitude, years hence historians will disagree about this financial meltdown.
The Murder of Lehman Brothers begins with an excellent prologue that reads like a novel. It was this that initially hooked me, and led me to explore further. The first chapter is summarized history of the firm. While I read it, there were interesting passages that may not be similarly appreciated by younger readers -- the firm financed industries that were a backdrop to many years of my life. At the same time, this is a chapter for all to read carefully. I found myself, flipping back to it. Much that occurred years ago formed a basis for, or at least foreshadowed, what would later happen to the firm. This larger context always exists, but in books of this type (non-fiction that is has many elements of a memooir) is often absent. The next chapter, on the aftermath of 9/11 at Lehman is the most emotional chapter. It is here that you see Tibman's passion for Lehman Brothers most poignantly expressed. Tibman also had the good sense to forego gruesome descriptions of the 9/11 assault. Instead you hear a very American tale of people subsequently coming together under adversity. It was also, in reading this chapter, that as a lifelong liberal Democrat I viewed investment bankers as people rather tha greed driven tacit criminals operating within laws they had lobbied for in Washington.
From this point forward the author begins to explain the roots of the financial crisis, skillfully weaving this into his narrative. The tender feelings for Lehman investment bankers and traders in the 9/11 chapter were mitigated by the questionable ethics among many in the financial world that are later described. Of course, this is as it should be. Little in this book is presented as black and white. Consistent with this, while the author clearly lays a great deal of blame for the current economic crisis at the feet of politicians and regulators in Washington, he does not pick sides. Given my own political views, I was initially unhappy and disappointed that Tibman was outspoken about failings of the Clinton administration. I told myself that after all he was turning out to be a typical Wall Street Republican. But then, tt wasn't long before I saw Tibman equally criticize Republicans. A positive of this book is that in the tradition of journalism I was unable to discern Tibman's political leanings. It is, however, apparent that he views few in Washington as up to the job of regulating the financial sector.
Much of the balance of the book explains the unfolding crisis at Lehman. While Tibman doesn't interupt this with calls for change, it is difficult to see how anyone, Republican, Democrat or Independent, could come away from this book without realizing that economic recovery by itself is not a fix for all that is wrong in Washington and financial markets. While Tibman does not preach, it is clear that he intends this book in part as a call to arms. In fact he quotes from the film "Network" a scene where a newscaster encourages his viewers to open their windows and shout, "Im mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."
While there is even more to praise than that which I have covered in this review, in the interest of balance I will point out the few shortcomings of the book. As mentioned above, it is part narrative and therefore, by definition, is not without indulgence. Of course, it is also the personal aspect of the book that makes it so compelling. I'm not sure this could be avoided by any insider writing such a book, but it is an imperfection. Additionally, in a chapter or two, while explaining many of the causes of the financial crisis, Tibman moves back and forth in time. This did not derail me, but a discussion of events in perfect chronological order could have made for a somewhat smoother read.
These are minor complaints. I have been lending the book to friends and I recommend it to everyone who can read. I suppose the book may reveal less to many on Wall Street than to the rest of us. Still, the book makes clear that Wall Street must change. It could do no harm for financial professionals who shoulder a substantial portion of the blame for what has happened to our country to hear from one among them this outcry. To Tibman's credit (perhaps facilitated by writing under a pseudonym) he makes no excuses for his own place in an industry where ethics are not a consideration. Such admissions are uncommon.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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