Rating: 
Summary: FABULOUS !
Review: James Stewarts narrative is dead on the facts and emotions of the Drexcel Burnham / Ivan Boesky / Dennis Levine cabal that drove and manipulated 80's Wall Street, compared to Predators Ball, this book distinguishes itself as it brings ALL the events together, the relationships described in the text will give the reader a perspective that is three dimensional.Stewart grabs the reader and never lets go, hard to put down and will keep you up late by the reading lamp. I read it again and found it just as interesting as the first read.
Rating: 
Summary: Only 22 months?
Review: Michael Milken served only 22 months of a 10-year sentence? Unbelievable! His time served surely doesn't send a message to those who consider the potential consequences of their criminal activities. The book was hard to put down - the author's research was in-depth and fascinating. The book can really get your blood boiling, such as when Milken introduces his "good friend, Jesse Jackson" - an obvious P.R. strategy intended to influence a potential jury of minorities. In fact, Milken's entire P.R. directed campaign makes you sick. Milken is indeed a talented financier, and there was no need for him to act criminally. How many millions, excuse me, BILLIONS, is enough? The author's work is a necessary read for those interested in business history and for those working in the financial services industry. Many feel that history will judge Milken in a favorable light - but I hope that our society never views tax evasion and fraud in a positive light. The book gave me a new appreciation for those serving the public, as the author tells us about the hard work of officials at the SEC and at the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York. Business can be conducted with trust and integrity, and when combined with good old-fashioned hard work, becomes a success story.
Rating: 
Summary: no stone unturned
Review: overly detailed account of the rise of the junk bond world. if you want an exhaustive account of the events, this is your book.
Rating:
Summary: Aspiring journalists must read this book
Review: Stewart has done an exhaustive study of the Milken, Boesky, Siegel & Levine insider trading scandals. At age 11 (old for a book about economics) it still holds up very, very well. He tells the story of the US Market Crash of 1987 from May, 1986 through November, 1990. His sources are mostly court records and first-person interviews. There are not enough journalists who can cull the (extensive, and public) record and write clearly about the transgressions that resulted in the evaporation of 1/3 of the entire US Stock Market's value in ONE DAY. This litigator wishes that there were 10,000 Stewarts combing the court records alone. The "public record" is so rarely used as a source and it is a great waste that more journalists don't take a few hours to look at the current cases pending before their local federal and state courts. Best sellers are made of this stuff!
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look at a complex and amazing scandal.
Review: The 1980's were known as the "Greed Decade" but, for many, the true excesses of that greed were never fully known or are now only a distant memory. James Stewart's book, "Den of Thieves" provides a comprehensive, fascinating and readable look at the insider trading scandals of the 1980's which brought words like
arbitrageur and LBO into the mainstream and people like Boesky and Milken household names. Stewart begins by looking at the rise of some of Wall Street's highest fliers and, in many cases, providing exhaustive details of how the prevailing mantra of "greed is good" led them to orchestrate their own downfall. The audacity of many of these people is almost breathtaking, as is the wealth they accumulated. Stewart moves on to detail the process by which the government, in the form of the SEC and then-US Attorney Rudy Giuliani, brought this house of cards tumbling down. The various players in the game are portrayed with varying degrees of sympathy. However, the government authorities are not necessarily portrayed in the most flattering light and Stewart raises a number of questions about the overall handling of the investigations. One word of caution - readers should not get too bogged down in the details of the story. The insider trading scandal involved
hundreds of players and transactions and schemes that were unbelievably complex. It is almost impossible to assimilate the entire story without getting somewhat confused. Nevertheless, the book is at its most effective when you take a step back and look at the grand scheme of the insider trades, the methods by which the perpetrators were brought to justice and the punishment they suffered from their crimes. In many ways, the book was published before the story reached a final conclusion and it would be worthwhile for a revised edition to be published, updating the status of the actors involved and the fallout of the revelations which the investigations brought. Overall, this is a fascinating and well written book which raises fundamental questions about the way business was, and is, conducted and the way in which the justice system operates. I would highly recommend it as the definitive account of the insider trading scandals of the 1980s.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look at a complex and amazing scandal.
Review: The 1980's were known as the "Greed Decade" but, for many, the true excesses of that greed were never fully known or are now only a distant memory. James Stewart's book, "Den of Thieves" provides a comprehensive, fascinating and readable look at the insider trading scandals of the 1980's which brought words like
arbitrageur and LBO into the mainstream and people like Boesky and Milken household names. Stewart begins by looking at the rise of some of Wall Street's highest fliers and, in many cases, providing exhaustive details of how the prevailing mantra of "greed is good" led them to orchestrate their own downfall. The audacity of many of these people is almost breathtaking, as is the wealth they accumulated. Stewart moves on to detail the process by which the government, in the form of the SEC and then-US Attorney Rudy Giuliani, brought this house of cards tumbling down. The various players in the game are portrayed with varying degrees of sympathy. However, the government authorities are not necessarily portrayed in the most flattering light and Stewart raises a number of questions about the overall handling of the investigations. One word of caution - readers should not get too bogged down in the details of the story. The insider trading scandal involved
hundreds of players and transactions and schemes that were unbelievably complex. It is almost impossible to assimilate the entire story without getting somewhat confused. Nevertheless, the book is at its most effective when you take a step back and look at the grand scheme of the insider trades, the methods by which the perpetrators were brought to justice and the punishment they suffered from their crimes. In many ways, the book was published before the story reached a final conclusion and it would be worthwhile for a revised edition to be published, updating the status of the actors involved and the fallout of the revelations which the investigations brought. Overall, this is a fascinating and well written book which raises fundamental questions about the way business was, and is, conducted and the way in which the justice system operates. I would highly recommend it as the definitive account of the insider trading scandals of the 1980s.
Rating:
Summary: Ethics
Review: The book is great for the review of ethics within the Investment Banking business. As I work at a private equity firm, the in's and out's of the game, are described very nice. Especially the amount of confidential information passing through me is worth thinking about. The book give a nice picture of what can happen in a world full of greed. Den of Thieves is nice to read and sometime a good laugh about some disturbed bankers.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful Read on the "Greed" Decade
Review: The book was an excellent narrative, first off. Stewart does a fine job with the "action" part of the story. While it might be true that some of his analysis is off (see other reviews), it still gets the point across. While obviously Stewart has a pro-U.S. Attorney and SEC slant, if the book was entirely truthful (which indications say is so), then readers really have no choice but to come away with the verdict that Michael Milken, albeit a visionary in some sense and a great salesman, was really a crook who cost the taxpayers billions and unfairly ruled the junk-bond market with an iron fist. Especially interesting is Stewart's theory on how junk bonds contributed to the S&L debacle in the late '80's. All-in-all, the narrative is great, and the analysis seems to be decent. It really makes the blood boil, however, to learn how Milken especially duped the system and then got away with a too light sentence (although it actually could've been shorter had Milken had more common sense)
Rating:
Summary: Insightful Read on the "Greed" Decade
Review: The book was an excellent narrative, first off. Stewart does a fine job with the "action" part of the story. While it might be true that some of his analysis is off (see other reviews), it still gets the point across. While obviously Stewart has a pro-U.S. Attorney and SEC slant, if the book was entirely truthful (which indications say is so), then readers really have no choice but to come away with the verdict that Michael Milken, albeit a visionary in some sense and a great salesman, was really a crook who cost the taxpayers billions and unfairly ruled the junk-bond market with an iron fist. Especially interesting is Stewart's theory on how junk bonds contributed to the S&L debacle in the late '80's. All-in-all, the narrative is great, and the analysis seems to be decent. It really makes the blood boil, however, to learn how Milken especially duped the system and then got away with a too light sentence (although it actually could've been shorter had Milken had more common sense)
Rating:
Summary: Den of Thieves
Review: This 29-week PW bestseller, a QPB main selection, tells of the rise and fall during the 1980s of the biggest insider trading ring in Wall Street history. Updated in paperback. Photos.
| 
