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All the Devils Are Here

The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis

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About this listen

 The New York Times bestseller hailed as "the best business book of 2010" (Huffington Post).

As soon as the financial crisis erupted, the finger-pointing began. Should the blame fall on Wall Street, Main Street, or Pennsylvania Avenue? On greedy traders, misguided regulators, sleazy subprime companies, cowardly legislators, or clueless home buyers?

According to Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera, two of America's most acclaimed business journalists, the real answer is all of the above-and more. Many devils helped bring hell to the economy. And the full story, in all of its complexity and detail, is like the legend of the blind men and the elephant. Almost everyone has missed the big picture. Almost no one has put all the pieces together.

All the Devils Are Here goes back several decades to weave the hidden history of the financial crisis in a way no previous book has done. It explores the motivations of everyone from famous CEOs, cabinet secretaries, and politicians to anonymous lenders, borrowers, analysts, and Wall Street traders. It delves into the powerful American mythology of homeownership. And it proves that the crisis ultimately wasn't about finance at all; it was about human nature.

 Americas Banks & Banking Economic History Economics Real Estate United States Business Banking Wall Street Global Financial Crisis Stock Taxation Capitalism Mortgage Great Recession

Critic reviews

“For those readers who have not immersed themselves in the murky tale of the way dubious housing finance became entangled with Wall Street’s casino culture, McLean and Nocera offer as legible an overview as exists. More than offering just a backward look, it helps explain the most troubling business headlines of the moment, as well as those that are certain to come.” – The New York Times


"Hard-hitting reporting and fluent writing bring the utter devastation of the Great Recession to life—with John Cassidy's How Markets Fail (2009) an essential aid to understanding where all the money went, and who benefited." - Kirkus Reviews


"Unlike many of the quickie books on the crisis, All the Devils Are Here is tightly written, methodical and unsensationalistic…it's very much worth reading for its damning conclusions and its craftsmanship." – Washington Post
All stars
Most relevant
The most detailed explanation I’ve listened to on the subject. Gobsmacked on how the whole thing unfolded.

Eye Opening

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I have read pretty much every account of the global financial crisis out there, Greenspan, Paulson, Sorkin, Tett, Lewis, Augar - you name it - and had the dubious pleasure of being a back office legal functionary at implicated player(s!) as it all played out. For me this is the best, most financially literate, account of the lot.

No surprise really, as Bethany McLean was the journalist who uncovered Enron and, as a junior reporter, asked hard questions no one else in the market was asking.

anyway, this book fully understands the hedging strategies, the economic theory behind CDs comma and the sudden confluence of adults who were meant to be paying attention but who turned out to be asleep at the switch when everyone needed them the most.

Well narrated, although the narrator makes the schoolboy error of calling the ISDA an "eye-ess-dee-aye" rather than "izder" and curiously pronounces LIBOR "leebor". But in honesty that's the heaviest criticism I can make!

best account of the global financial crisis so far

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I have read or listened to quite a few books about the 2008 financial crisis. This book takes a wider view of the causes and the evolution of the problems and is written in a very engaging way. I would recommend it.

Excellent overview of the financial crisis

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Dennis boutsikaris makes this come alive, as he always does. I find myself listening to books just because of his narration!

Oh and the book itself is nice too :)

Great narrator!

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the book delves in the practices that caused the 2008 financial crises and all the big players who
orchestrated the rise and fall of the mortgage backed derivatives. a great insight in human greed and how even the smartest people can be blinded by their own biases

insight in the 2008 financial crisis

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