Rating: 
Summary: Milken and Boesky as devils of the financial world
Review: Decently written book that reveals only one side of the Milken story. It clearly presents the government's point in the trial. It lacks some compassion towards Milken as a human being. I personally like the overall written picture of Ivan Boesky and relevant photos of him included in this book.
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Summary: biased hatchet job
Review: DEN OF THIEVES is a biased hatchet job against financial genius Michael Milken--a man who was a powerful force for good in American business and is, at most, guilty of the moral equivalent of jaywalking. For more objective accounts read Daniel Fischel's PAYBACK--THE CONSPIRACY TO DESTROY MICHAEL MILKEN and Jesse Kornbluth's HIGHLY CONFIDENT.
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Summary: Reads well, but not very objective. Needs math lesson.
Review: First read this book in college. Reread it recently have having spent the last five years in the finance industry, several in high-yield investment banking. As a narrative, the book is a nice read, especially the first half. But to say that it's not an objective piece of work would be hyperbole. Stewart does well capturing the flavor and the sensationalism of the times but his assessment of Milken or Drexel or the high yield market, is not a sober or accuate one. And his numbers didn't always add up. (Take a calculator to those pages explaining bond commissions.) In the end, Stewart comes off as just another conspiracy theorist, before the conspiracy theories were in vogue. Still, kind of a fun read.
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Summary: No 1 book on Milken, insider trading and 80s Wall Street
Review: Great book. The first half is better because it goes over all the schemes and insider trading. The second half goes over the chase to arrest everybody. A must read. A great book for anyone interested in finding out what happened in the 80s and in understanding 'junk'
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and Accurate
Review: Having re-read this book last week, it took me back to a time and a place I really didn't want to visit but found I should. Having been lured to Drexel, Burnham as a senior executive (from Morgan, Stanley in 1986) only weeks before the scandals hit -- and having witnessed the lava-roast at that firm -- it amazes me how Mr. Stewart was able to re-create events. Along with Predators' Ball, this book serves as an example of the power of quality investigative journalism. Filled with my own stories of similar dealings, I understand fully that his observations hit dead-center at the bullseye of the truth of that decade.One comment in the Epilogue struck me as almost sad. Mr. Stewart says, in the wake of these scandals: "Wall Street has given every sign of being severely chastened." Too bad that wasn't the case. Now myself a writer with somewhat less courage, perhaps, than Mr. Stewart (I've written about abuses/dangers on Wall Street, but write them as financial thrillers and opinion pieces -- it's safer, I think), I can only hope that with each scandal we get a little more honest, a little more chastened. Too bad I don't see that happening. Not yet, at least.
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Summary: Tintillating world of the reckless
Review: I became engrossed in this book, at times wanting to jump into Investment Banking, which was flovored by the 1980's tone and values that existed more prevalently during this time in American society. After this, one should explore Harvey Mackay's works. How could these four individuals: Dennis Levine, Martin Siegel, Michael Milkin, and Ivan Boesky, do so much before being held accountable? White collar crime is destructive, and destroys many lives. If the payoff is multi-millions, and the consequences are spending a short period of time in a country club, then the green light is on for greed and the "end justifies the means" mentality. I was able to correspond with James B. Stewart about this book and his other works.
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Summary: The Best on the Topic
Review: I don't think I can add much to the descriptions of the book that have already been documented here. What I would like to say is that this was an outstanding book that is the leader of the class on this topic. You get a wonderfully documented and rich description of the group of high finance leaders during the 80's Junk Bond and M&A scandals. The author also provides a very readable explanation of the tools used in both the legitimate and illegal side of this issue. This is just a detailed and exciting book; the extra pages and detail do not slow it down at all. If you are interested in this topic then I would suggest you also read "Predator's Ball". To get a better understanding of KKR, I would suggest "Masters of Debit". If you read only one book on this topic then this is the book to read.
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Summary: Great - I never read books like this and I loved it!
Review: I never have time to read novels for fun but I decided to give this one a try. I was very impressed and actually ordered 2 more books on similar topics. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in investment banking. It is not only informative but interesting. The only aspect of the book that I did not like was the conclusion. It was a little drawn out. I lost my enthusiasm towards the end but still enjoyed the book.
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Summary: Journalistic Self-Promotion---Revisited
Review: I read this book when it first came out in the early 90s, the summer before entering business school. At the time I thought, like many who had recommended the book, that it was a first rate piece of journalism based on sound, unbiased research.
I have since learned that this book is nothing of the sort. In fact, it is a summary of one erroneous conclusion after another, based upon faulty, incorrect, hearsay 'evidence' and a wanton disregard for the truth. Moreover, I now believe that such poor authorship can mean only one thing--that Mr. Stewart was never out to reveal the truth, but instead, to make a name for himself.
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Summary: Must Read For Stock Traders amd Securities Lawyers
Review: I would like to begin by saying that it is amazing what kind of copious and exhaustive research has gone into the writing of this book. James Stewart weaves a story of greed, lies, betrayals, and human frailty. The books accounts for the most significant events on Wall Street thoughout the 19080s, detailing various schemes of insider trading and more devious manipulations of the market that can be hardly understood by people not in the invenstment field. Even today the ramifications of the acts of then household names such as Boesky, Siegel, and Milken cannot be fully realized. It is a book that would make people weep who lost everything in the wake of of "high yield" bond depreciation, and to caution others to take most things told to them by investment bankers, arbs, and other financial figures with a grain of salt. Many who read this book feel that Milken was unfairly treated and got the short end of the stick at sentencing time. However, I would argue that no one in the schemes outlined got anywhere near the punishment that they deserved. All of the criminals in this book, and criminals they were of greatest magnitude who stole from investors, their employees, and the American people untold sums, came out wealthy and little shaken by the experience. It is interesting to note that the book treats everyone kindly on some level other than Dennis Levine who is nothing but villiefied throughout the book as stupid, ineffectual, overweight and crass. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially those who are thinking about going into the field of investment, businessmen, and people who want to know more about Wall Street in the 1980's, ...
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