34/2009. Perfectly competent, filled in some details for me, but I have to agree with the other reviewers who say it didn't really add anything to all the other journalism about bubbles, accounting tricks, and the general averting of eyes when profits are going up.

First off, disclosure: Penguin sent me a copy of this book to read & review for free based on an earlier review I wrote of one of Roger Lowenstein's books on this site. So I have a theoretical conflict of interest, though I am doing my best not to allow it to affect - positively or negatively - my view of this book.
That being said it is a somewhat ironic marketing tactic for Penguin to use n this particular case (but one which I heartily encourage, by the way) since Lowenstein's main theme is the mischief arising from conflicts of interest suffered by research analysts when covering the stocks of companies to whom their firms are pitching for investment banking business.

Be that as it may, I've disclosed it now, so you're warned.

Origins of the Crash covers much the same ground as Frank Partnoy's Infectious Greed and John Cassidy's Dot Con. As usual, Partnoy can't resist hopping on his moral high-horse, or mentioning 10+ year old derivatives scandals that have nothing to do at all with the recent market turmoil; Cassidy is more measured but restricts himself very much to the Dot Com phenomenon, adding an interesting history of the internet and computers in finance.

Lowenstein manages deals with the spinning, laddering and corporate governance scandals of the early part of this decade, but as many of the reviewers here have noted, doesn't really add much that you wouldn't know had you been reading the papers for the last few years.

Also, as he was with his book on LTCM, he is good at wisdom after the fact and retains a weakness for the cute aphorism, though he is more circumspect with it here and doesn't allow the neat turn of phrase to undermine his argument in quite the same way. Certainly, Lowenstein writes well; the book moves at a nice clip, and you never really get the chance to be bogged down.

For all that, I thought Origins of the Crash was a far more measured work than Partnoy's Infectious Greed (though not quite so comprehensive), and a better overview of the whole situation than Cassidy's Dot Con, but ultimately short on new insight or analysis.

If you're looking for an entertaining overview, though, this might just be the book for you. ( )

The Theme Never Changes, Only the Stories

There are only two emotions that motivate the stock market: fear and greed.

In his latest market history, Roger Lowenstein explores how the theme of creating shareholder value morphed into unbridled greed and led to the latest stock market crash.
Delving back to the 1970s and 1980s, Lowenstein spins a compelling narrative, of heavy hitters -- Jack Grubman, Sandy Weill, Frank Quattrone, Henry Blodget, Mary Meeker, Abby Cohen, Bernie Ebbers, Frank Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Gary Winnick -- who checked their moral scruples, fiduciary responsibility and better judgment at the door in the pursuit of personal wealth. Along the path, they co-opted the system’s traditional restraints: full disclosure, public accounts and corporate attorneys.

I was disappointed Lowenstein failed to include the Richard Grasso incident. As the head of the New York Stock Exchange and regulator of virtually every individual mentioned in the book, his pursuit of personal wealth at the expense of those he was charged with regulating would have served as the icing and cherry on top of this tale of greed.

Regardless, this well-researched and powerfully written portrait of the rise and fall of the bull market of the 1990s will studied by market historians for decades to come. ( )

A very quick read, entertaining, but I think a bit light on insight. Lowenstein recounts the excesses of executive compensation in the 1990's, linking the excessive use of repeated stock options to the drive for ever upward earnings and share prices. He has many good stories of corporate greed and chicanery. Andrew Fastow and the special purpose vehicles that served to get debt off of Enron's balance sheet, Kozlowski looting Tyco, Bernie Ebbers and the Worldcom hype, and even the shenanigans between Sandy Weil and Jack Grubman are all described. Lowenstein maintains a note of disdain for the participants, and is even impassioned in his denunciations. His diagnosis of the source of all the problems, however, in stock options, is not very profound. ( )

Nothing I wasn't aware already aware of, but the author is entertaining. ( )