Wriston : Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American Financial Supremacy

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Summary: Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American
Review: Dear Sirs,

A lamdmark in the writing of banker history for Citibank, a nation's most influential commercial and investment banking.

After reviewed the book, it my gracious to know the name of National City bank be renamed to Citibank and Citicorp by Mr. Walter Wrision? the Author do not express further the name of Citibank achieve from? Why must Mr. Wrision renamed to the bank to Citibank and Citicorp group and not other names? Is the renamed name significance to the background of the center of the nationa's banking system?

Thank You

Harry Tan

Rating:
Summary: Overlong, lacking in analysis and insight
Review: This ponderous tome provides is a lengthy assemblage of facts about Wriston, but fails to offer very much in the way of insight or analysis.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing and tiresome.
Review: Too long, too boring and poorly written. I had hoped that this would be an interesting history and Walter Wriston. Instead, I found it to be a self-serving saga of an insecure man.

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Summary: History and Banking Education
Review: Yes -- the book IS long and sometimes excruciatingly painful in detail, but it presents material from the mid-1800's to 1990s. Most emphasis is 1960s-1980s. So, give yourself a lot of leadtime! If you want a book for its perspective on a parcel of American History, its a great educational tool to understand the evolution of Banking, particularly Post-WWII Fed policies, Glass-Stegall,the battle for laissez-faire regulation, and related internal management challenges to business development. But if you want a book that gives current insights or reads like promotional materials from Goldman Sach's "The Culture of Success" and "House of Morgan", its downright uninspiring and lacks any heart-pounding climax like a biography or fiction. The writer's large volume of work is matched by his understanding of management and banking jargon and issues. For instance, he understands matrix'ed management structures, credit approval processes, and reasons for organizational resistance to external consultants like McKinsey. He also avoids protraying, as model-citizens or perfect CEOs, Wriston or Reed, who probably gave their cooperation to the book. One could argue that his version of root causes to problems like Penn Central or CREI were incorrect, but equally, one would agree that his facts were mostly complete. His style of writing is better than recent books such as Enron's "Smartest Guys in the Room" and others which are written by magazine/newspaper journalists -- which read like an extended articles. However, he does succumb to problems in overlapping info that seem redundant at times -- probably needed more cross-chapter-reference editing. In summary, I'm buying this book for that part on my book shelf covering American History. Its not going into the shelf with Forbes, Peter Drucker, or Jack Welch. Citibank has had a wonderful place in American Capitalism and History as a leading-edge bank with entrepreneurial talent and limitless ambitions -- like those others that have made our country great. The book is a testament to the competitive spirit of America and success driven by people unafraid to fail but always willing to try.