A New York Times
Bestseller

Excerpt

13 Bankers,” New York Times

Reviews

A well-documented appeal to embrace once again Thomas Jefferson’s skepticism of concentrated banking power.

Louis Uchitelle, New York Times:

The authors’ main thrust is very well made: the burden of proof is on financial institutions to show that what they do is socially and economically worthwhile, not on governments and regulators to prove that it is not.

Alan Beattie, Financial Times:

Mr. Johnson offers an enticing vision of a Wall Street confined, its potency limited to put-downs and head-shaking: a Wall Street where right-sized banking is a do-gooder word for a safer, saner system that has learned from its mistakes.

David Weidner, Wall Street Journal

The best book of a fine bunch. . . . a brilliant, important, and extremely unsettling work.

Jonathan Kirshner, Boston Review

I’m told that lots of copies of 13 Bankers are making their way around Capitol Hill. Even Chris Dodd told Don Imus that he is reading it. This could be the rare book than can actually have an impact on the vital debate happening right now in Washington.

Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post

Though Jamie Dimon won’t like this (any more than John D. Rockefeller did), incremental regulatory changes and populist rhetoric about “banksters” are getting us nowhere. It’s time for practical solutions. This might be a place to start.

James Pressley, Bloomberg

An angry but well-documented survey of how nearly 30 years of deregulation under both Republicans and Democrats has created a few gigantic and, the authors say, uncontrollable financial institutions.

Tom Abate, The San Francisco Chronicle

It’s been take, take, take by the bankers—without them giving anything much in return.

Jonathan Ford, Prospect Magazine

It’s slow in the very best sense of that word. It’s a terrific book, highly recommended.

Stephen Metcalf, Slate’s Culture Gabfest

This staid looking text holds an explosive idea: Wall Street has hijacked our government. And without a total overhaul, taxpayers will endlessly foot the bill for its sins.

Katie Benner, Fortune

When Congress and the administration fight it out, 13 Bankers will be a must-read. And come the next crash, it will be so again.

Jeffrey E. Garten, The Daily Beast

No book on the meltdown will make you angrier than 13 Bankers.

—Christopher Caldwell, The Weekly Standard

One of the most valuable contributions to the literature on the financial crisis.

Arnold Kling, EconLog

[A] really good thing to read.

—Brad DeLong

Un essai engagé et une analyse informée et rigoureuse des liens incestueux entre la finance et la politique.

Adrien Auclert, La Vie des Idées, Collège de France

Media

All Things Considered, March 26, 2010

The Leonard Lopate Show, March 30, 2010

The Colbert Report, March 30, 2010

Diane Rehm, April 1, 2010

C-SPAN, April 6, 2010

Radio Open Source with Christopher Lydon, April 14, 2010

Bill Moyers Journal, April 16, 2010