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The Smartest Guys in the Room

The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

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The Smartest Guys in the Room

By: Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

What went wrong with American business at the end of the 20th century?

Until the spring of 2001, Enron epitomised the triumph of the New Economy. Feared by rivals, worshipped by investors, Enron seemingly could do no wrong. Its profits rose every year; its stock price surged ever upward; its leaders were hailed as visionaries.

Then a young Fortune writer, Bethany McLean, wrote an article posing a simple question - how, exactly, does Enron make its money?

Within a year Enron was facing humiliation and bankruptcy, the largest in US history, which caused Americans to lose faith in a system that rewarded top insiders with millions of dollars, while small investors lost everything. It was revealed that Enron was a company whose business was an illusion, an illusion that Wall Street was willing to accept even though they knew what the real truth was. This book tells the extraordinary story of Enron's fall.

©2020 Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind (P)2020 Penguin Audio Stock Business Banking Wall Street Investing Thought-Provoking Taxation

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All stars
Most relevant
I was worried about the size of the audiobook but was impressed by the authors ability to keep the whole thing very interesting and not dwell into describing carpet colours for hours

A story well told

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To read how the 90s turned good honest men/women into greedy self absorbed money piranhas.

Well written, great narration & easy to follow. Found some of the explanations of particular trades & codes a little bit daunting as it’s an area not familiar with & more time in the actual employee who suffered- but in the whole recommended

Eye opening

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Very detailed story that led to the demise of enron. Explanation was very clear and the audio form was good (no graphs or tables needed). Narration was good too. Some can argue the book described too many different characters.

Great listen

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The book is, of course, fascinating, but special mention must be made of the narration. As well as effortlessly navigating the complex financial info, the narrator does a great job of bringing out the appropriate emotions in the various quotes without it sounding like a fiction performance. Exceptional.

Exceptionally narrated

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Great book however there does seem to be an incongruous skip at (I think ch13)

Very interesting

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