The first chapter of New York Times Dealbook Editor Andrew Ross Sorkin’s much-anticipated recount of the frenetic days that followed the Lehman Brothers collapse has been posted as a preview in Vanity Fair. Too Big to Fail, described by its author a “true, inside-the-room account of what happened,” provides exceptional detail as Wall Street’s leading firms faced imminent doom in the weeks following September 16, 2008.
The excerpted chapter, which covers the first five days after the fall of Lehman Brothers and the announcement of American International Group’s first government-backed cash infusion, contains an intimate narrative of the heady conversations and frantic phone calls that defined the conduct at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and other key Wall Street firms. Also on hand in this dramatic episode are such crucial regulatory figures as then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, and the soon-to-be-promoted then-President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Timothy Geithner.
Sorkin’s complete book, which runs 624 pages, is the result of hundreds of interviews and thousands of examined documents, according to the author, “the hardest job of reporting I’ve ever had in my life.” One difficulty, according to the author was sorting through the sheer volume of detail given him: “I had almost too much information. There was sort of a Rashomon-like nature to it all, where I might even interview all 10 people in a room, and, of course, all 10 people have various versions.”
Sorkin’s book will be released on October 20. The preview is here. A previous interview with Sorkin, also published by Vanity Fair, can be found here.
Editor’s note: Andrew Ross Sorkin will appear at the Directorship Forum, November 16th in NYC. To hear Sorkin in person, please click here to register for the Directorship Boardroom Leaders Forum and the D100 dinner.