Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity »

Financial journalist and bestselling author Michael Lewis is best known for intriguing nonfiction narratives like Liar's Poker, The New New Thing, and Moneyball.

A masterful account of today's money culture, showing how the underpricing of risk leads to catastrophe.

The Barnes & Noble Review

Thomas Carlyle famously dubbed economics "the dismal science," and the name has stuck. But nothing can be dismal in Michael Lewis's hands. With his books on money and finance, which include the fabulously entertaining bestsellers Liar's Poker, The Money Culture, and The New New Thing, he made even readers whose eyes normally glaze over at the mention of credit default swaps or collateralized debt obligations sit up and enjoy themselves.

Introduction: Inside Wall Street's Black Hole 3

Part I A Brand-New Kind of Crash

"Ridingthe Wild Bull" Stephen Koepp 14

"The Crash of'87: Chicago's 'Shadow Markets' Led Free Fall in a Plunge That Began Right at Opening" Scott McMurray Robert L. Rose 20

From The Brady Commission Report 25

Black Monday: The Catastrophe ofOctober 19, 1987...and Beyond Tim Metz 30

Liar's Poker: Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street Michael Lewis 36

"The Lonely Feeling of Smai! Investors" Stephen Labaton 43

"Yuppies' Last Rites Readied" Richard J. Meislin 47

What Goes Up Eric J. Weiner 50

"Did the Computer Cause the Crash?" Lester C. Thurow 54

"Crash-Proofing the Market; A Lot of Expert Opinions, but Few Results" Terri Thompson 57

The Economist, "Short Circuits" 62

"Crash Course: Black Monday's Biggest Lesson Don't Run Scared" Robert J. Shiller 65

After the Crash Franklin Edwards 71

Part II Foreigners Gone Wild

"Mutual Funds Quarterly Report; The Forecast Looks Brighter for Adventure Travel" Reed Abelson 79

The New York Times, "Thailand Warns Currency Speculators" 82

"A Thai Business Wonders, Will It All Crumble?" David Holley 83

Reporter Associate Jeremy Kahn, "Saving Asia" Paul Krugman 86

Interview With Rob Johnson, from Frontline's"The Crash" 96

The Economist, "Finance and Economics: A Detour or a Derailment?" 106

"Pulling Russia's Chain" Michael Lewis 110

Interview With Jeffrey D. Sachs, from Frontline's "The Crash" 113

"How the Eggheads Cracked" Michael Lewis 124

"10 Years After the Asian Crisis, We're Not Out of the Woods Yet" Joseph Stiglitz 145

"Asia's Long Road to Recovery" Keith Bradsher 148

"Tracking an Online Trend,and a Route to Suicide" Choe Sang-Hun 153

Part III The New New Panic

The New York Times, "Bigger Netscape Offering" 162

The New York Times, "Underwriters Raise Offer Price for Netscape Communication" 163

"With Internet Cachet, Not Profit, a New Stock is Wall St.'s Darling" Laurence Zuckerman 165

"How Net Fever Sent Shares of a Firm on 3-Day Joy Ride" Carrick Mollenkamp Karen Lundegaard 169

"New New Money," from The New New Thing Michael Lewis 176

"Cooling It: Wall Street Firms Try to Keep Internet Mania from Ending Badly" Rebecca Buckman Aaron Lucchetti 186

"BurningUp" Jack Willoughby 193

Dotcom The Greatest Story Ever Sold John Cassidy 208

"The High Price of Research: Caveat Investor: Stock and Research Analysts Covering Dot-Corns Aren't as Independent as You Think" Erick Schonfeld 216

"Fumble.com: Internet Companies Threw Millions into the Air at the Super Bowl. They're Still Pretending They Scored a Touchdown" Katharine Mieszkowski 219

"Meet the Dumbest Dot-Corn in the World" Mark Gimein 228

"The Financial Page: How Mountebanks Became Moguls" James Surowiecki 231

"Dot Corns: What Have We Learned?" Jerry Useem 234

"In Defense of the Boom" Michael Lewis 239

Part IV The People's Panic

"How to Get Rich in Real Estate," from Dave Barry's Money Secrets Dave Barry 264

"Shaky Foundation: Rising Home Prices Cast Appraisers in a Harsh Light" John Hechinger 276

"The Next Crash" John Cassidy 283

"AS Bubble Speculation Rises, Industry Sees Little Fear" Robert Julavits 294

"This Is the Sound of a Bubble Bursting" Peter S. Goodman 299

Opening Statement of Chairman Christopher Dodd-Hearing on "Mortgage Market Turmoil: Causes and Consequences" Christopher Dodd 308

"Subprime Homesick Blues" James Surowiecki 313

"Triple-A Failure" Roger Lowenstein 316

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" Larry Roberts 330

"Bear CEO's Handling of Crisis Raises Issues" Kate Kelly 332

"What Wall Street's CEOs Don't Know Can Kill You" Michael Lewis 341

"The Bear Flu: How It Spread" David Henry Matthew Goldstein 343

"A Wall Street Trader Draws Some Subprime Lessons" Michael Lewis 350

"After the Money's Cone" Paul Krugman 353

"Hedge Funds Come Unstuck on Truth-Twisting, Lies" Matthew Lynn 356

"Trader Made Billions on Subprime" Gregory Zuckerman 359

Acknowledgments 367

Glossary 369

Contributors' Biographies 379

Credits 387