Table of Contents

Foreword vii

I Climax: The Day Henry Ross Perot Lost $450 Million 1

II Fair Exchange: The Year the Amex Delisted the Old Guard Romans 26

III The Last Gatsby: Recessional for Edward M Gilbert 55

IV Palmy Days and Low Rumblings: Early Warnings Along Wall Street 81

V Northern Exposure: Early Warnings Along Bay Street 104

VI The Birth of Go-Go: The Rise of a Proper Chinese Bostonian 127

VII The Conglomerateurs: Corporate Chutzpah and Creative Accounting 150

VIII The Enormous Back Room: Drugs, Fails, and Chaos Among the Clerks 182

IX Go-Go at High Noon: The View from Trinity Church 206

X Confrontation: Steinberg/Leasco vs Renchard/Chemical Bank 227

XI Revelry Before Waterloo: The Time of the Great Garbage Market 260

XII The 1970 Crash: To the Edge of the Abyss 291

XIII Saving Graces: The Invisible Samaritans of Wall Street 311

XIV The Go-Go Years 348

Notes on Sources 358

Index 364

About the Author

JOHN BROOKS was an award-winning New Yorker staff writer and author of several critically acclaimed explorations of business and Wall Street, including Once in Golconda (a Wiley Investment Classic), The Games Players, Business Adventures, and The Fate of the Edsel.