#1 New York Times Bestseller — With a new Afterword
"Guaranteed to make blood boil." —Janet Maslin, New York Times
In Michael Lewis's game-changing bestseller, a small group of Wall Street iconoclasts realize that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders. They band together—some of them walking away from seven-figure salaries—to investigate, expose, and reform the insidious new ways that Wall Street generates profits. If you have any contact with the market, even a retirement account, this story is happening to you.
#1 New York Times Bestseller — With a new Afterword
"Guaranteed to make blood boil." —Janet Maslin, New York Times
In Michael Lewis's game-changing bestseller, a small group of Wall Street iconoclasts realize that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders. They band together—some of them walking away from seven-figure salaries—to investigate, expose, and reform the insidious new ways that Wall Street generates profits. If you have any contact with the market, even a retirement account, this story is happening to you.
Critiques-
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Starred review from April 14, 2014
In his latest captivating expedition into the marketplace jungle, Lewis (Moneyball) explores how the rise of computerized stock exchanges and their attendant scams started a battle for the soul of Wall Street. He probes the subterfuges of high frequency traders who, assisted by banks and brokerages happy to sell out customers, use blindingly fast data links to gain inside information on investors' trades and then exploit them on today's entirely digital stock markets. At the center of his novelistic narrative is a New York mosaic: Brad Katsuyama, a Canadian-born trader with a conscience; Ronan, a hot-headed Irish telecom expert; and a Dostoevskian cast of Slavic programmers veering between existential angst and saintly resignation. This cast bands together to expose the market manipulations and then start their own honest stock exchange. Lewis does his usual superb job of explicating the inexplicable in his lucid, absorbing account of the crossroads of high-tech data transfer and byzantine market strategies, where milliseconds of signaling speed yield billions in profits. He also presents a rich sociology of Wall Street's assholes-vs.-geeks culture clash between greedy, blustering financial honchos and the flickers of rationalism and humanity in the tech people they need to run their markets. The result is an engrossing true-life morality play that unmasks the devil in the details of high finance. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writer's House. -
July 28, 2014
Veteran actor Baker brings his distinct patrician manner, with its smooth elocution and precise pronunciation, to the audio edition of Lewis’s investigation into the world of high-frequency stock trading. The book chronicles a new band of marketplace rebels who engaged in a David and Goliath battle with Wall Street to level the playing field for investors. Baker’s polished vocal mannerisms, though characteristic of the stodgy stereotypes of today’s business tycoons, provide an effective contrast with the diverse cast of outlaws in the book. Issues of ethnicity remain at the heart of this tension, as technically gifted Wall St. outsiders from around the globe fuel the movement with their discomfort of the mainstream American financial industry. Baker’s portrayal of Russian immigrant programmer Sergey Aleynikov is especially striking and evocative. Though not quite as dramatic, Baker’s voicing of Irish finance expert Ronan Ryan also leaves an impression upon the listener. A Norton hardcover. - Hector Tobar;Los Angeles Times Lewis, as always, is exceedingly good at describing the complexities and absurdities of the subculture he portrays here... A deeply entertaining book, and one that illuminates how much our world has changed in less than a decade.
- Philip Delves Broughton;Wall Street Journal Important to public debate about Wall Street... in exposing what one of his central characters calls the 'Pandora's box of ridiculousness' that financial exchanges have become.
- John Lanchester;London Review of Books Reads like a thriller . . . Lewis is the kind of writer who creates his own weather system.
- Financial Times Remarkable... Michael Lewis has a spellbinding talent for finding emotional dramas in complex, highly technical subjects.
- Steven Pearlstein;Washington Post Michael Lewis does it again . . . fascinating.
- Jon Stewart;The Daily Show A beautiful narrative, so well-written. You've got to get this.
- David Sirota;Salon If you read one business book this year, make it Flash Boys.
- Kevin Roose;New York Magazine Michael Lewis is a genius, and his book will give high-frequency trading a much-needed turn under the microscope.
- Vanity Fair Michael Lewis knows how to tell a story.
- Tina Jordan;Entertainment Weekly A fast-paced tale backed by gutsy reporting.
- Bloomberg Business Week Who knew high-frequency trading was such a sexy subject?
- The American Conservative Flash Boys richly deserves to be the first chapter in a new discussion of market rules and abuses... Lewis raises troubling and necessary questions.
- Huffington Post Michael Lewis is one of the premier chroniclers of our age.
- James B. Stewart;New York Times When it comes to narrative skill, a reporter's curiosity and an uncanny instinct for the pulse of the zeitgeist, Lewis is a triple threat.
- Lev Grossman;Time [Lewis] is a top-flight storyteller.
- Jon Talton;Seattle Times A tour de force that will grab and hold your attention like the best of thrillers.
- Julie Hinds;Detroit Free Press Lewis writes about the resilience of underdogs, even in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. He's doing essential work, and anything that embarrasses fat cats and encourages reform is a flash in the right direction.
- Will Deener;Dallas News Lewis simply tells the truth.
- Zachary Warmbrodt and Dave Clarke;Politico Michael Lewis has another hit on his hands.
- Joe Nocera;New York Times [Lewis's] ability to find compelling characters and tell a great story through their eyes is unparalleled. He can untangle complex subjects like few others. His prose sparkles.
- San Francisco Chronicle Recommended... Entertaining.
- New York Review of Books Entirely engaging... Illuminates a part of Wall Street that has generally done business in the shadows.
