Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Last of the Imperious Rich: Lehman Brothers, 1844-2008

Incomplete. After I turned the last page of Peter Chapman’s The Last of the Imperious Rich: Lehman Brothers 1844-2008, I had the feeling that the author patched this together with a minimum of research and few interviews with insiders. Chapman’s previous book about the United Fruit Company, Bananas, provided him with much information about their banker, Lehman Brothers, and I had the sense that he recycled what he had that fit this book. Rather than a comprehensive and insightful history of Lehman Brothers, this book presents the personalities of the leaders through anecdotes, and the historical context is presented in a paragraph or two. At its best, the book brings those personalities to life. As a comprehensive and accurate history or as a commentary with insight on the demise of the company, this book falls far short.

Rating: Two-star (Mildly Recommended)
Click here to purchase The Last of the Imperious Rich from amazon.com.

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