In the 1990s, women in record numbers looked to Wall Street as agreat place to build successful and lucrative careers. What many ofthem found there was no meritocracy, but an industry living by therules of a 1960s fraternity, with the money and legal clout tosilence any challenges. Award-winning columnist Susan Antilla brokethe story of shocking sex discrimination at Smith Barney and othermajor brokers. Her disclosures in the press were a rallying cry forclass actions challenging the sexual hazing and outrageousdisparities in pay that shackled professional women on WallStreet. Taking its title from the infamous basement party room of SmithBarney?s Garden City, New York, branch office, andrepresenting years of extensive research, Tales from theBoom-Boom Room traces the story of the lead whistle-blower, PamMartens, the crusading broker who put an entire industry on thedefensive, then found herself at odds not just with her localbosses and with powerful figures like Travelers Group presidentJamie Dimon, but with her coplaintiffs and attorneys. Thewomen?s employment agreements forbade them to sue, and onlyan ingenious legal strategy circumvented that virtual gag rule andbrought the scandal out from behind the closed doors ofarbitration. This is a riveting human, legal, and business drama ofwomen and men in the financial institutions on Wall Street andaround America.