Money and Power

When, in late 2008, the dust finally started to settle on one of the worst financial crises in history, only one Wall Street institution still stood virtually unassailed - Goldman Sachs. Why did Goldman survive, and even flourish when so many of its peers were collapsing around it?

In Money and PowerWilliam D Cohan gives us the inside story of why Goldman is so profitable, and so powerful. Goldman Sachs has continually projected an image of being superior to its competitors - smarter, more collegial, more ethical. But Cohan also reveals another way of viewing Goldman - as a secretive money-making machine that has walked an uneasy line between conflict-of-interest and legitimate deal-making for decades; a firm that has exerted its influence over government; a workplace rife with brutal power struggles.

William D. Cohan is the first author to chronicle and to interview the leaders of Goldman Sachs since the crash, including its current chairman and CEO, Lloyd Blankfein. Money and Poweris the definitive account of an institution whose public claims of virtue look very much like ruthlessness when exposed to the light of day.