{"title":"Books by William D. Cohan","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780141991221","title":"Power Failure","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA magisterial history of the astounding rise - and unimaginable fall - of America's most iconic corporation\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePerhaps no company reflects American ingenuity, innovation, and industrial fortunes as well as the iconic General Electric Company. Producing storied leaders and almost every product imaginable, GE built a cult of success that hid cracks in its foundation. In this masterful history, William D. Cohan, one of America's most pre-eminent financial journalists, argues that GE's legacy is both a paragon and a cautionary tale through which to understand twentieth-century America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePower Failure\u003c\/i\u003e limns the eventful 130-year history of GE, bringing fresh analysis drawn from rare interviews with key figures of the company's golden era, including Jack Welch himself. As Cohan recounts, Welch traded on a sterling legacy to make GE the most valuable and respected company in the world, while cloaking its vulnerabilities. What he handed to his successor Jeffrey Immelt was, Cohan argues, both an impossible standard and a more troubled reality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTracing the company's leaps and stumbles through the personalities that defined it, \u003ci\u003ePower Failure\u003c\/i\u003e offers a surprising retelling of the GE story, puncturing the myth we think we know for a fresh look at its legacy - and what it tells us about the state of the financial world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43206022299826,"sku":"9780141991221","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141991221.jpg?v=1786011293"},{"product_id":"9780141036892","title":"The Last Tycoons","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam D. Cohan's \u003ci\u003eThe Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères \u0026amp; Co.\u003c\/i\u003e is the astonishing story of the world's most elite and legendary investment bank - and the men who reigned over it all.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  For over 150 years Lazard Frères had stood apart from other Wall Street firms by offering ultra-wealthy clients the wisdom of its 'Great Men': from Felix Rohatyn, the escapee from Nazi-occupied France turned financial genius, to Michel David-Weill, the inscrutable French billionaire 'Sun King'; from Steve Rattner, the boy wonder from Long Island who clashed violently with the old guard, to larger-than-life CEO Bruce Wasserstein, 'Bid-Em-Up-Bruce', who broke with the bank's traditions and made himself billions in the process. They amassed unimaginable fortunes and would stop at nothing to make a deal, until their titanic egos started to jeopardize everything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  In \u003ci\u003eThe Last Tycoons \u003c\/i\u003eWilliam Cohan, himself a former high-level Wall Street banker, takes us into their mysterious and secretive world, telling a story of ruthless ambition, whispered advice, explosive feuds, glamorous mistresses, decadent excesses and unimaginable wealth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Spellbinding'\u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'A definitive account ... it lives up to the billing'\u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Has sent a jolt through Lazard and the rest of Wall Street'\u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cb\u003eWilliam D. Cohan\u003c\/b\u003e was an award-winning investigative journalist before embarking on a seventeen-year career as an investment banker on Wall Street. His first book, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Tycoons\u003c\/i\u003e, about Lazard, won the 2007 Financial Times\/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award and was a New York Times bestseller. His second book, \u003ci\u003eHouse of Cards\u003c\/i\u003e, also a bestseller, is an account of the last days of Bear Stearns \u0026amp; Co. He is also the author of Money and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56224327205237,"sku":"9780141036892","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141036892_73b180cb-d3bb-4180-aaa8-6b3bbaa01287.jpg?v=1786011769"},{"product_id":"9780241954065","title":"Money and Power","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam D. Cohan's \u003ci\u003eMoney and Power: How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World \u003c\/i\u003eis a chronicle of the most successful, iconic bank on Wall Street, from the firm's founding in 1869 to the present day.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Goldman Sachs are the investment bank all other banks - and most businesses - want to emulate; the firm with the best talent, the best clients, the best strategy. But is their success just down to the gilded magic of the 'Goldman way'?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  William D. Cohan has gained unprecedented access to Goldman's inner circle - both on and off the record. In an astonishing story of clashing egos, backstabbing, sex scandals, private investigators, court cases and government cabals, he reveals what really lies beneath their gold-plated image. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'The best analysis yet of Goldman's increasingly tangled web of conflicts' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eEconomist \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Startling ... lifts the lid on Goldman's pivotal role in the meltdown' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eMail on Sunday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Cohan portrays a firm that has grown so large and hungry that it's no longer long-term greedy but short-term vicious. And that's the wonder - and horror - of Goldman Sachs' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eBusinessweek\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Cohan's book tells of bitter power struggles and business cock-ups' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'A definitive account of the most profitable and influential investment bank of the modern era' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cb\u003eWilliam D. Cohan\u003c\/b\u003e was an award-winning investigative journalist before embarking on a seventeen-year career as an investment banker on Wall Street. His first book, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Tycoons\u003c\/i\u003e, about Lazard, won the 2007 \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award and was a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller. His second book, \u003ci\u003eHouse of Cards\u003c\/i\u003e, also a bestseller, is an account of the last days of Bear Stearns \u0026amp; Co.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56230755500405,"sku":"9780241954065","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241954065_e7d8bf90-d0ba-47fb-9023-130bec0e5058.jpg?v=1786012350"},{"product_id":"9780141986425","title":"Why Wall Street Matters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIf you like your smartphone or your widescreen TV, your car or your pension, then, whether you know it or not, you are a fan of Wall Street.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWilliam D. Cohan, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eHouse of Cards\u003c\/i\u003e, has long been critical of the bad behaviour that plagued much of Wall Street in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and, as an ex-banker, he is an expert on its inner workings as well. But in recent years he has become alarmed by the vitriol directed at the bankers, traders and executives who keep the wheels of our economy turning. \u003ci\u003eWhy Wall Street Matters\u003c\/i\u003e is a timely and trenchant reminder of the dire consequences for us all if the essential role these institutions play in making our lives better is carelessly curtailed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311576265077,"sku":"9780141986425","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141986425_c70f8d0c-ac30-4235-a5ed-ce196044d403.jpg?v=1786011123"},{"product_id":"house-of-cards","title":"House of Cards","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Last Tycoons\u003c\/i\u003e, William D. Cohan's international bestseller \u003ci\u003eHouse of Cards: How Wall Street's Gamblers Broke Capitalism \u003c\/i\u003edissects the collapse of Bear Stearns and the beginning of the financial crisis.         \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  It was Wall Street's toughest investment bank, taking risks where others feared to tread, run by testosterone-fuelled gamblers who hung a sign saying 'let's make nothing but money' over the trading floor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Yet in March 2008 the 85-year-old firm Bear Stearns was brought to its knees - and global economic meltdown began. With unprecedented access to the people at the eye of the financial storm, William Cohan tells the outrageous story of how Wall Street's entire house of cards came crashing down. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'A page-turner ... hard to put down, especially thanks to its dishy, often profane, quotes from insiders ... Read it, learn - and weep'\u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eObserver\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'A fly-on-the-wall record ... Cohan is a master of this genre. He perfectly captures the raw voice of Wall Street ... like Damon Runyon updated by Martin Scorsese' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eSpectator Business\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'Action-packed ... gripping' \u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  'A devastating account of the foul-mouthed, money-grabbing men responsible for Bear Stearns' collapse'\u003cbr\u003e  \u003ci\u003eBusiness Week\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cb\u003eWilliam D. Cohan\u003c\/b\u003e was an award-winning investigative journalist before embarking on a seventeen-year career as an investment banker on Wall Street. His first book, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Tycoons\u003c\/i\u003e, about Lazard, won the 2007 Financial Times\/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award and was a New York Times bestseller. His second book, \u003ci\u003eHouse of Cards\u003c\/i\u003e, also a bestseller, is an account of the last days of Bear Stearns \u0026amp; Co.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57466572865909,"sku":"9780141039596","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780141039596.jpg?v=1785654630"},{"product_id":"money-to-burn","title":"Money to Burn","description":"From the bestselling author of House of Cards and Power Failure comes the turbulent tale of Apollo, a powerful and controversial financial empireApollo Global Management, one of the world’s most formidable investment firms, has thrived in private equity and private credit, delivering staggering returns through aggressive takeovers and bold, contrarian bets. Blending gripping narrative with meticulous reporting, Money to Burn offers a spectacular investigation into this controversial and powerful financial empire, where the billionaires at the top have brought the same appetite for risk at work to their chaotic personal lives.   Rising from the ashes of Drexel Burnham Lambert after the junk bond crisis in the 1980s, Apollo – under the leadership of Leon Black, its brilliant and fearsome billionaire founder – has come to epitomize the new Wall Street for more than three decades. But, in 2021, Black resigned. His dramatic downfall, due in part to his close personal and business relationship with the disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is a riveting saga of extreme wealth, jealous rivalries and public scandal.   Drawing on exclusive access to Apollo’s executives, William D. Cohan exposes the power struggles, betrayals and courtroom battles behind the company’s meteoric rise – and offers a first-hand account of how one man’s ambition, hubris and excess altered the course of an international financial powerhouse. Both an origin story and a cautionary tale, Money to Burn also asks a critical question: have firms such as Apollo created an ingenious new model for global finance – or planted the seeds of our next great financial crisis?","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57499268907381,"sku":"9780241839478","price":40.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780241839478.jpg?v=1786694584"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-william-d-cohan.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}