The Big Short by Michael Lewis
266 pages, W.W. Norton. $27.95
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
You know those friends of relatives that you always end up hearing about at family gatherings? Your mother's friend's daughter, who spent all her money on pink press on nails in an attempt to jumpstart a fashion empire? The kid you went to high school with who always seems to be doing just a little bit better than you (see 'Seinfeld' / Lloyd Braun). They're the names that become part of the background noise at holiday events, the people you feel you know, or should know, but aren't sure you've ever met. Growing up, I often heard my uncle talk about Steve Eisman, his best friends' son, who had graduated from Harvard Law School with plans to be a corporate attorney, only to realize he hated being a lawyer. So in 1991, right around the time I was starting seventh grade (and embarking on the worst year of my life), I started hearing accounts of Eisman's adventures on Wall Street, how he spent money like water, how he was finding his footing in the business, of his less than sparkling social manners, and later on, about some of the more tragic events in his life. Cut to some 17 years later, and I started to read newspaper articles about a Steve Eisman who had tried unsuccessfully to bring attention to what he felt were criminal investment practices occurring within Wall Street's biggest financial organizations. Then I picked up Michael Lewis' latest book and realized on page one of the first chapter that this was indeed the very same Steve Eisman I had been hearing about for years. That got my attention. 227 pages later, I learned that in betting against tactics he felt were sure to lead to financial Armageddon, this same Eisman had made somewhere in the ballpark of four hundred million dollars.
'The Big Short' tells Eisman's story, along with that of Michael Burry, a one-eyed medical doctor with Aspberger syndrome, who left medicine for finance, only to come to the same conclusions as Eisman and also make an unfathomable fortune betting against the craziness he couldn't believe others did not see happening. Other players who picked up on the dangerous insanity included Greg Lippmann, a cocky, consummate Wall Street insider, along with Jaime Mai, Charlie Ledley, and Ben Hockett, whose Cornwall Capital Management, which was started in a Berkeley garage, couldn't get any respect from the Wall Street establishment, yet also wound up making a bloody fortune as the mess unravelled. Each of these guys is a true character (In every sense of the word - Eisman, for one, thinks of himself as Spider-Man, and leaves work early every Wednesday to be at the comic book shop when the latest issues arrive.), which makes the book read more like a novel than an account of greedy, shortsighted business practices gone horribly awry.
'The Big Short' explains the origins of the financial crisis better than any book, article, or news report I've come across so far. Can I explain it all for you now? Of course not. By no stretch of the imagination am I any sort of finance guy. I don't do well with math, but I can usually hammer out financial calculations pretty quickly. And yet, the stuff in this book is impossible for me to wrap my head around. Were it not for the fact that many of my family members have worked on Wall Street in past lives, I probably wouldn't understand a damn thing Lewis is talking about here. But before I go any farther, he most certainly tackles the task of explaining this world of high finance magic acts better than anyone I've read before. And yet, just when I thought I was starting to understand what these guys on Wall Street were doing, and what the folks betting against them were up to, something else would come along that twisted by head around in still another direction, til I realized I didn't really know anything at all. But in a way, that's sort of the point, almost none of the people involved, save for the six people I mentioned above, understood what they were doing. They just knew that for the time being, they were raking in disgustingly massive mountains of easy cash, and they didn't care enough to learn whether today's payday would guarantee continued stability down the line.
Have I lost you? OK, let me try to circle back. Long story short, this is the story of the Wall Street bonds and derivatives market, where "Gordon Gekko wannabes" became "if-only-Gordon-Gekko-could-bes." These are the guys behind the guys, behind the guys, who took a financial "recovery" free of real growth, handed out loans to millions of Americans who couldn't afford them, then gambled on the final outcome as they sold insurance from one to the other as their customers/victims quickly became swamped in debt, unable to get their heads above the rising tide of the economy, while the folks who lured them in grew richer and fatter and greedier even as their customers became house poor. This is also a story of sheer incompetence and irresponsibility, and the way far too many individuals became rich while remaining oblivious to the damage they were inflicting on others, as well as to the country, and the marketplace. In short, this is the account of a massive crime, but one that by all technical terms was entirely legal, that wound up setting a historical precedent, in which the United States government stepped in to help the reckless financial institutions that set the whole nightmare in motion, and left those with the least to fall back on, all but locked out in the cold.
If you thought you understood what happened, you have no idea. If you aren't mad now, you will be. This book is history as thriller, business account as crime analysis.
I highly recommend you pick this one up.
Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
29/03/10 18:39 Filed in: POlitics
464 pages, Harper. $27.99
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
Sooooo, perhaps you’ve read something about this book. It’s been getting just a smidge of publicity the last few months, with lots of sound bites hitting the airwaves and print outlets related to Harry Reid’s comments regarding Barack Obama’s chances in a Presidential Election, tidbits about John Edwards’ off-the-wall sleepover buddy and “webisode mastermind,” and anecdotes about S*r*h P*l*n and her run-ins with the McCain Campaign’s staff members.
First off, if this kind of this is, well, your kind of thing, there’s just one question you’ll be asking: Does the book deliver on its promise as a political soap opera? Well, it does and it doesn’t. I wouldn’t say all the best stuff has already been unveiled in the press, but if you’ve read any other accounts of the election, or you follow political news closely, it’s likely you’re already familiar with the basic timeline presented here. That being said, this really is a pretty engrossing book. Whether the accounts of events inside each campaign, or the imagined thoughts inside the heads of the key players are entirely accurate or artistic license gone awry is debatable (after all, how could anyone know what Bill and Hillary said to one another after going for a swim on a tropical vacation?!!), you can’t deny that this is highly readable and quite a page turner.
So here is my take. I don’t really care about Edwards, but there were a few points when I did think, “Holy Crap! He’s a total nutcase!” and later, “Holy crap, that lady sounds mean,” and still later, “Holy crap! That other woman sounds like a total fruitcake!” But after a while I got impatient with the Edwards sections and wanted the authors to move things along a bit. The same became true of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Some of it was quite interesting, but boy, there’s more about her in this book than there is about the guy who won! And that’s where the problems start. Yeah, there was lots of drama in the lead up, and the fight for the nomination was brutal, but the fight after the nomination was every bit as exciting, yet from the moment Obama gets the nod from the Democrats, and McCain picks some utterly unqualified Alaskan lady for his running mate, the book seems to be in a rush to the finish, and the balance and level of coverage just isn’t the same. The opening portion and the final acts are not well balanced at all! And the conclusion arrived before I was even ready. Hell, the ultimate event -- election day -- isn’t even covered! We jump right from November 3rd to November 5th! No account of S*r*h P*l*n’s much-reported (and appropriately undelivered) concession speech. No reporting on the unprecedented voter turnout. Nothing. Just the day before, the day after, and the feeling that lots of juicy tidbits didn’t even make it into the rough draft before getting the axe. To me, it felt like much of this was written as the campaigns were playing out, then the book got shopped around for much of 2009, before everything was sewn up in a quickly assembled final act, and the manuscript was sent off to the printers. The problem is that it all feels so rushed and cut short, that ultimately, I was left feeling pretty disappointed! So what can I say, this is recommended, but I suspect you may have to pick up another book to feel you’ve read the full ending to the story. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming books, but in the meantime, pick up a copy of Game Change and see what you think for yourself.
The Audacity to Win by David Plouffe
09/03/10 09:13 Filed in: POlitics
400 Pages, Viking Adult. $27.95
Review by Mike Attebery
Books about the 2008 election are rolling in now. I’ve already read “Renegade: The Making of a President” by Richard Wolfe, and I’m currently in the middle of “Game Change” by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, but so far, the first to come from an insider who was with the campaign from the start is “The Audacity to Win” by David Plouffe, Campaign Manager of Obama for America.
At this point, I’ve read enough about the 2008 election, one which I feel represented a critical turning point for this country, to see a number of areas of repetition and ground well covered. I think that’s actually a good thing, as it lets us know that, yeah, we’re getting the story conveyed to us properly. Yet whereas “Renegade” and “Game Change” tell us the story from the outside, albeit through the often off the record accounts of those who lived it, or who knew someone who did, Plouffe’s book tells us everything from firsthand knowledge, from the anxious period during which Obama’s folks knew he could go either in in deciding to run or not run, to their first steps hitting back at an opponent in a way that the candidate felt was beneath both himself and the type of campaign he sought to run, we are there, clinging to the wall, antenna on high alert, picking up every bump and shift in the political landscape, and whats interesting, even at the early stages of the campaign, and in looking back on the campaign now that one quarter of the first Obama administration has run its course, is that all the signs are there for what to expect of his Presidency, what might drive some of us crazy, and what the folks in the inner circle found both perplexing and refleshingly reassuring about their man in the running for the most powerful job in the world.
The name No Drama Obama was accurate then, as it it now, and that sense of cool reasoning, calm demeanor, and careful deliberation is seen again and again over the course of the two years covered in this book. Not only that, we get to see the process of a man with incredible gifts, who often steps up his game dramatically only when pressed or after a period of extended procrastination. During the campaign those tendencies played out again and again as Obama prepared for major speeches, prepped for debates, and plotted turning points. Today, I’d argue it’s well on display as each of the administration’s signature initiatives reach ever increasing levels of opposition from political adversaries, not to mention those memebers within the President’s own party who for fear or lack of force, seem to be increasingly reluctant to step up and truly rock the boat in the way I believe the majority of American’s feel must be done. Yet as the folks on the campaign learned, you underestimate Barack Obama at your peril. They saw it, his opponents saw it, and even today, as I write this, we’re seeing it firsthand.
So then what of the book? I found it fascinating. It reads quickly, while providing enough insider morsels and jargon to stoke one’s curiosity for the subject matter. Unlike “Renegade” which I felt stretched its limited access to the candidate beyond its measure for reliable insight, I didn’t ever feel I was getting a story whose cracks had been spackled over with questionable insights or abbreviated recaps of events already well known to many of us in the general public. This if truly an account from the belly of the beast. It’s all here, all the nitty gritty, all the blood, sweat, and unexpected tears, and let me tell you, this is fascinating stuff.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett.
26/02/10 12:15 Filed in: Fiction
464 pages, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam. $24.96
Reviewed by Stephanie Attebery
I didn't know what to expect when I picked this book up after reading a vague review discussing three southern women narrators of different ages and backgrounds who begin a “project” together. In fact it was the mysteriousness of the set-up that really intrigued me. It didn’t end up being what I expected, but it was so much better.
To give you a bit more to go on: One woman, Aibileen, is a black maid working for an insecure and negligent mother. While she adores her young 2 year old charge, Mae Mobley, Aibileen secretly dreads the day when the young girl will grow up to become just as awful as her mother. She quietly witnesses the injustices in her world and mourns the recent death of her son, while working a dangerous job to save money for school. The second woman, Minny, is a black maid who often puts her foot so far into her mouth when faced with the injustices and plain stupidity of her white bosses, that she ends up unemployed. She's as tough as she is talented at cooking, and yet, somehow, she is also a battered woman who is nearly overwhelmed by her domestic situation. The third is Skeeter, the young white college graduate, who despite all of her privilege and comfort, is tall, awkward. and not the right sex to do what she aspires to, which is to be a journalist. Is she pinned to a lifetime of covering DAR luncheons and writing about home economics for the local journal? What would happen if she began to write down the day-to-day stories of the black maids in town and their dealings with the white women who employ them?
Oh and did I mention the time and the place? 1962. Jackson, Mississippi. I think you can see where this story is going…
It seemed to me, a non-authority on the issue, that Stockett took pain-staking effort to pin down the proper vernacular for both the white and black characters. This really fleshed out the book, from the character’s inner thoughts to the conversations.
Real historical events in Mississippi play a part in the character’s lives, such as a pivotal event that follows shortly after the assassination of Medgar Evers at his nearby home, and the recent desegregation of the lunch counter at Woolworths after months of sit-in protests.
You know those books with villains so awful that you don’t even see the point in reading about them anymore? Every word that comes out of their mouths is thoughtless, hurtful, even menacing. Well, yeah, sure we all know people like that, but Stockett allows all her women more dimension than this, and even the very worst characters reveal some level of compassion. Like Hilly Holbrook, the hands down bad apple. Hilly is the head of the DAR, pro-segregationist, and maker or breaker of the socials lives of every woman in town, and in some cases their livelihood. And yet, she is Skeeter’s old friend and cares deeply for Skeeter’s happiness, however misguided her intentions as a matchmaker are. Oh, but vengeance-seeking readers- don’t worry- she gets what’s coming to her, ooooh does she ever!!
Of course, some of the main characters are left on very tentative footing, but the message is still uplifting and hopeful. This book celebrates and honors the similarity of all women. Check it out for yourself!
The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond
256 pages, William Morrow Cookbooks. $27.50
Reviewed By Stephanie Attebery
Pioneer Woman Cooks. Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl. was a gift from my father-in-law on my first trip to Oklahoma this past Thanksgiving. I am no country girl, and my husband is definitely not a cowboy, so it might seem strange that I love this cookbook. Of course, Mrs. Drummond was nearly a city girl herself. She met her husband by chance during what was supposed to be a quick pit stop to see the family in Oklahoma on the way to bigger and better things in Chicago. Needless to say, she never left the countryside again and lives happily with her cowboy husband and their four children on a working ranch.
The recipes certainly aren't fancy as Drummond herself comes clean about in the introduction. Being the wife in a ranching family means you must prepare regular meals that everyone will eat and fill up on. Energy is the key, and the cookbook’s three main sections are appropriately titled: Breakfast, Dinner ( or “lunch” as it is better known by her family) and Supper (or “dinner”). One of the best things about the book are the many pictures that accompany every meal. A few years ago Drummond started a cooking blog and took many step by step photographs of the meal preparation. Readers of her blog and this book are spared a lot of guesswork by these very well-executed instructional pictures. In fact there is gorgeous photography throughout the book of Drummond’s family and their ranch, (most photographs taken by Drummond herself) and many personal stories and anecdotes, regarding the origin of the meals. All of the recipes came from family or close friends, Drummond’s ability to share this makes this a most intimate cooking experience.
So far I've made the Enchiladas, the Penne Pasta a la Betsy (Betsy being her kid sister), the Olive Cheese Bread, and the Simple, Perfect Chili. All were met with rave reviews. And I had fun making them! Next up Fried Chicken and Peach Crisp with maple cream sauce!! If you’re looking for simple comfort food, I suggest picking up a copy for yourself!
New York City Food and Arthur Schwartz
400 pages, Stewart, Tabori & Chang. $27.50
Reviewed By Stephanie Attebery
Arthur Schwartz is my favorite food writer. He's well-known, having been Food editor for the New York Daily News for many years, and a frequent NYC radio food commentator, but I think it's time for my generation to discover him if they have not already.
I was first introduced to Arthur Schwartz when shopping for a book about making soup for my father, a bit of a soup junkie. I found Soup Suppers, and while it never made it into wrapping paper or even the mail (sorry dad), it has provided me with many wonderful dinners. Not only are the recipes excellent, but Schwartz understands that the stories behind the recipes are just as important. His Russian-Hungarian-Jewish heritage provided him with a rich palate early on, and many of the recipes in Suppers honor that personal history.
I recently picked up New York City Food: An Opinionated History and More Than 100 Legendary Recipes. I literally did not put it down for the entire weekend. Like Soup Suppers, Schwartz tells the stories, in this case, of the interdependent history of the foods, recipes, and the people that made New York City so great. The food chapters are divided by the ethnic groups that introduced them, from the very earliest, Lanape Indians and Dutch settlers to the latter “new immigrants” of eastern Europe and further-east Asian cultures, NYC Food also devotes sections to the chronology of eating trends of the city. These trends were shaped by factors of location, economics, and ways of life, from the Oyster houses, to the Cafeterias, to the Automats, and the Great Steakhouses. There's even a small, simple chapter on the Cocktail, and of course a section on The Hot Dog. Schwartz also answers some important questions that arise when the melting pot simmers, like, Why do jewish people love Chinese food? He elaborates on the origins of the old Joke: What’s the Shortest Book Ever Written? Irish Cooking. The book is Chock-Full of Chris Callis’ gorgeous food photographs that leave your stomach grumbling and your mouth salivating. Pick it up!!
Also, in these hard times, I feel I cannot complete a write-up on Schwartz without mentioning What To Cook When You Think There's Nothing in the House To Eat. This cookbook is an absolute must-have for people of working age who may come home on a mid-weeknight with little more culinary gumption than to open up a can and pull some slightly-wilted vegetables from the fridge. How appropriate in today’s economic times to own this book (which you can literally buy used on Amazon for one cent!). And who knew there were so many possibilities in my little kitchen?
Check out all of Schwartz’s books here!
Growing Up, by Russell Baker
352 pages, Signet. $7.99
Reviewed By Stephanie Attebery
Growing Up seems like a natural read right now, as our country goes through an economic downturn unseen since the author’s own experience during the Great Depression. Baker’s life began in rural Virginia and continued on, after the death of his father, in Northern New Jersey and eventually Baltimore. While this is Baker’s memoir, he is very much concerned with peering through the eyes of his own ailing mother, a strong and stern woman, and the most influential figure in his childhood.
My heart breaks as Baker reprints the romantic correspondence between his mother and a job-seeking immigrant baker named Oluf. The long-distance romance starts off optimistically but is bluntly crushed by the overpowering financial despair of the suitor, as it becomes clear that he will never make it back to her.
Baker also shares his own early career experiences as a Newspaper seller on the streets of Baltimore, earning money for himself and the extended household. At the end of his story, Baker is being pulled out of the depression by successes in journalism and love. He meets the love of his life Mimi and becomes a staff writer for the Baltimore Sun. He seems in awe of his success, often, seeing his growing career as more a matter of chance and luck than of his own “gumption”, a trait that his mother, frequently points out he is lacking.
Growing Up is not only Baker’s family story, but an intimate glimpse into what it was like for countless American families during that difficult time, when children were “given up” to be raised by more fortunate relatives (like Baker’s own young sister). And ambitions were wittled down to the barest of necessities. (sounding familiar?)
Many of the book’s rich characters were Baker’s uncles and aunts, who took the burden of sheltering less fortunate family members, or were themselves the unfortunate ones. There is his shady “entrepeneur” Uncle Hal and sassy Aunt Pat. Baker honors and credits his Uncle Charlie, the teller of tall–tales, who inspired him early on to tell his own stories. Baker describes his memories of his young mother and her brothers and sisters-in-law talking late into the night while he laid in bed a floor above, listening to the endless pots of coffee being brewed. This memory to me reveals the essence of the book. It is ultimately the tale of how the warmth of family allows hope to survive through the toughest of times. I look forward to checking out the books sequel, The Good Times.
Get your copy of Growing Up here.
Googled: The End of the World As We Know It
400 pages, Penguin Press. $27.95
Reviewed By Mike Attebery
When I published by first novel in 2008, Google’s bots managed to nab an entire electronic copy of it and make if free for download! I had approved a brief snippet in order to allow potential customers a sneak peek at a story I had been writing for the better party of 8 years, only to find that the entire thing, every word, ever comma, every steamy love scene, had been nabbed and put out there for free. Anyone with an interest in media and the internet is aware of Google, and anyone with a creative bone in their body has probably wondered about copyright law. As Ken Aulette makes clear again and again through his latest book, Google is a company founded and run by software engineers. As a Fine Arts major who went to a college split almost 50/50 between artists & photographers and scientiests & engineer, the scenario of individuals who don’t seem to “get” creative types and intellectual property rights is all to familair. I don’t believe consideration of copyright even crosses the Google guys’ minds! From news and online publishing, to YouTube and Google books (including ones still under copyright or in the control of family estates), Google doesn’t seem to care about or comprehend copyright, and as I see it, reading between the lines, a company that doesn’t understand such laws is in for a bumpy ride (as current events seem to illustrate), and engineers who don’t understand the value of say, an editor, are never going to convince everyone that their intentions are not quite evil, since lets face it, they don’t know enough about language, emotional intelligence, or communications to consider what kind of impression they are actually making. This isn’t the riveting expose I was hoping for from Mr. Auletta, but for anyone in media, I do believe this is a must read. Get your copy here.
True Compass: A Memoir
532 pages, Twelve. $35.00
Reviewed By Mike Attebery
Boy would I love to get Ted Kennedy’s take on the latest goings on in Washington and the political world. Between the increasingly contentious (and possibly doomed) cause of his life, Healthcare Reform, and the Democratic loss of the Senate seat long held by himself, and before him his older brother John, I can’t help but think that even Kennedy, the great pragmatist and Lion of the Senate would be feeling just a bit of dismay at the goings on in his absense. Either way, you can be sure his thoughts would be conveyed in a way both remarkably candid and imbued with surprising, occasionally understated wit and insight. Throughout this memoir, which covers his 77 years with remarkeably sharp recall, including the equally touching and tragic events of his youth, Kennedy shares his life story in relaxed, detailed prose. The latter portion of the book does begin to feel a bit rushed, particularly after Kennedy walks us through the events following his diagnosis with brain cancer, which does give the sudden wrap-up a rather grim if understandable conclusion, yet even with a rushed ending, one does finish this warm memoir feeling they have gotten to know a warm, complex, and politically talented individual. For anyone with an interest in government, politics, or the Kennedy family, this is a must read title. Get your copy here.