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Bryce, Robert; Ivins, Molly (Introduction) Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, Jealousy and the Death of Enron
New York, New York, U.S.A. Public Affairs Press 2002 158648138X / 9781586481384 First Edition Hard Cover Fine Fine
Near-new copy. Appears unread. Stated First Edition. NO remainder marks or price clippings. Tight spine - Bright pages. Illustrated with photos. 395 pages. - NO writing, marks or tears. When energy goliath Enron collapsed in the fall of 2001, business pundits and investigative journalists rushed out hurried and bemused postmortems on the unexpected bankruptcy. How, they wondered, could an entity that racked up $101 billion in 2000 be insolvent a year later? In Pipe Dreams, veteran Texas journalist Robert Bryce probes the Houston-based energy trading company for an answer. Combining wit, suspense, and a seemingly unquenchable curiosity, he charts the rapid growth and unpredicted implosion of Enron and its effect on its workers and the economy. From the Publisher A classic investigative narrative of how Enron's business practices led to its own downfall, Pipe Dreams reveals what went wrong not just on the books, but in the minds and hearts of the company's managers. The self-destruction of Enron, once America's seventh-largest company, was the most spectacular failure of a company in a generation, with devastating impact on workers, investors, and the American economy. Anyone interested in business or in our culture needs to know just how it happened. Robert Bryce's Pipe Dreams, widely praised as the best book published on Enron, is a hard-hitting, incisive, and compelling narrative that explains the company's rise and fall while illuminating the personalities, egos, and dreams of the people who built the company and of those who destroyed it. In a new afterword to the paperback edition, Bryce also examines the current "state of the suits" and their enormous cost to the American public. "Finally, an Enron book that actually explains what happened at Enron," said Publishers Weekly: "This isn't just the first book to make sense out of the debacle; it's a vivid cautionary tale about the consequences of the lurid excesses-personal and professional." Author Biography: Robert Bryce spent twelve years as a reporter for the Austin Chronicle and was most recently a senior writer at Interactive Week. He has published more than 800 articles for publications including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Talk, Texas Monthly, U. S. News & World Report, and Salon. He lives in Austin, Texas. PublicAffairs will publish his new book, Cronies, in spring 2004. Synopsis This is a reprint of a 2002 book, about which Book News wrote: Texas-based investigative reporter Bryce has been writing about Enron since 1997. Here he traces the rise and fall of their empire, concentrating on the activities of its high-flying executives and their various fraudulent schemes. He argues that issues of regulation and accounting are not as important as the moral corruption that he sees as having been rampant in every aspect of the lives of Skilling, Lay, and the other Enron executives. Hence, he spends a lot of time detailing the various romantic affairs and examples of personal greed, as well as discussing the company's institutional corruption. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR From The Critics Boston Globe irreverent and captivating...a real eye-opener...A fascinating, well-written and well-researched book that pulls the reader along, page after page. Austin Chronicle There's nothing familiar about what Bryce has accomplished in this superb book...Meticulously researched...Bryce presents [financial] stuff with...admirable clarity. Publishers Weekly Finally, an Enron book that actually explains what happened at Enron. Bryce, an Austin, Tex., journalist familiar with the energy and telecommunications industries, offers a colorful account of the most spectacular corporate self-destruction in American history. Tracing the company's history, he shows how deal-focused executives like CEO Jeff Skilling transformed a fiscally responsible energy supplier into an out-of-control trading firm. He describes risky practices, like "mark-to-market" accounting and shell corporations, in clear, concise language that doesn't confuse readers who don't have MBAs. The book relies heavily on good ol' boy colloquialisms (e.g., "If [George W.] Bush had been any more simpatico to Enron, he could've been charged with a misdemeanor under the state of Texas' buggery laws") but backs up every unusual assertion, revealing, for example, connections between Bush and Enron going back to the mid-1980s. Not that Democrats were innocent; there's also extensive coverage on what Enron got from government agencies during the Clinton administration. While the emphasis on sexual misconduct among the top brass and its correlation to the financial shenanigans is arguable, Bryce makes a reasonable case for former chairman Ken Lay's unwillingness to control his staff's behavior-and inability to lead by example. This isn't just the first book to make sense out of the debacle; it's a vivid cautionary tale about the consequences of the lurid excesses-personal and professional-of the recently ended economic bubble, where corporations and their employees were so obsessed with acquiring wealth they became "dumber than a box of hammers" about making-and saving-money. Agent, Dan Green. (Oct.) Forecast: As a contributor to the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Salon and the Texas Observer, Bryce shouldn't have trouble plugging his book in the business media. Once word gets out that it's an Enron book with substance, sales will be brisk. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Price:
5.00 USD
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