The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine

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W. W. Norton & Company, Feb 1, 2011 - Business & Economics - 320 pages

The #1 New York Times bestseller: "It is the work of our greatest financial journalist, at the top of his game. And it's essential reading."—Graydon Carter, Vanity Fair

The real story of the crash began in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn't shine and the SEC doesn't dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can't pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren't talking.

Michael Lewis creates a fresh, character-driven narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor, a fitting sequel to his #1 bestseller Liar's Poker. Out of a handful of unlikely-really unlikely-heroes, Lewis fashions a story as compelling and unusual as any of his earlier bestsellers, proving yet again that he is the finest and funniest chronicler of our time.
 

Contents

A Secret Origin Story
1
In the Land of the Blind
26
How Can a Guy Who Cant Speak English Lie?
61
How to Harvest a Migrant Worker
85
Accidental Capitalists
104
SpiderMan at The Venetian
136
The Great Treasure Hunt
160
The Long Quiet
179
A Death of Interest
200
Two Men in a Boat
226
Epilogue Everything Is Correlated
253
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About the author (2011)

Michael Lewis is the best-selling author of Liar’s Poker, Moneyball, The Blind Side, The Big Short, The Undoing Project, and The Fifth Risk. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his family.

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