Inside the Battle to Save Wall Street

Too Big to Fail

The era-defining international bestseller - the definitive account of the global financial crash 
 
'Has all the drama of a Hollywood movie' Daily Telegraph 
'The definitive account' Sunday Times, Books of the Year 
 
They were masters of the financial universe, flying in private jets and raking in billions. They thought they were too big to fail. Yet they would bring the world to its knees. 
 
Andrew Ross Sorkin, the news-breaking New York Times journalist, delivers the first true in-the-room account of the most powerful men and women at the eye of the financial storm - from reviled Lehman Brothers CEO Dick 'the gorilla' Fuld, to banking whiz Jamie Dimon, from bullish Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to AIG's Joseph Cassano, dubbed 'The Man Who Crashed the World'. 
 
Through unprecedented access to the key players, Sorkin meticulously re-creates frantic phone calls, foul-mouthed rows and white-knuckle panic, as Wall Street fought to save itself.

He has done a remarkable job in producing a lively account that will be hard for subsequent authors to beat

As close to a definitive account as we are likely to get

Andrew Ross Sorkin has written a fascinating, scene-by-scene saga of the eyeless trying to march the clueless through Great Depression II

Andrew Ross Sorkin pens what may be the definitive history of the banking crisis

Sorkin has succeeded in writing the book of the crisis, with amazing levels of detail and access

Too good to put down . . . It is the story of the actors in the most extraordinary financial spectacle in 80 years, and it is told brilliantly . . . It is hard to imagine them being this riveting

Sorkin can write. His storytelling makes Liar's Poker look like a children's book

The most readable and exciting report of the events surrounding the Lehman collapse that we have seen . . . impeccably sourced

The sense of being in the meeting rooms as hitherto all-conquering alpha male egos fight for their reputations, as their and our world judders, is palpable

Surpassed its rivals with its depth, range of reporting and high quality analysis

A superbly researched and sobering take on the events surrounding the meltdown on Wall Street

With Too Big to Fail , Andrew Ross Sorkin has broken the Barbarians [At The Gate] curse ... Ross Sorkin's ... astonishing narrative of the epic financial crisis of 2008 is an extraordinary achievement that will be hard to surpass as the definitive account

Andew Ross Sorkin is the author of Too Big to Fail, which won the Gerald Loeb Award for Best Business Book, and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award. Sorkin is a long-time journalist at The New York Times, the creator of DealBook, co-creator of the TV drama Billions, and a television co-presenter for CNBC’s Squawk Box.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2010 
 
 
They were masters of the financial universe, flying in private jets and raking in billions. They thought they were too big to fail. Yet they would bring the world to its knees. 
 
Andrew Ross Sorkin, the news-breaking New York Times journalist, delivers the first true in-the-room account of the most powerful men and women at the eye of the financial storm - from reviled Lehman Brothers CEO Dick 'the gorilla' Fuld, to banking whiz Jamie Dimon, from bullish Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to AIG's Joseph Cassano, dubbed 'The Man Who Crashed the World'. 
 
Through unprecedented access to the key players, Sorkin meticulously re-creates frantic phone calls, foul-mouthed rows and white-knuckle panic, as Wall Street fought to save itself.

Andrew Ross Sorkin

Sorkin's vivid and forensic account . . . is a real eye-opener . . . a work of true scholarship, the fruits of eight years of research by Sorkin drawing on an extensive array of materials, including personal correspondence and unpublished papers whose details have been woven into the story of the Great Crash for the first time. 1929 will have a distinct place within the Great Crash/Depression genre, just as did Too Big to Fail and for the same reasons—a people’s tragedy told through the lens of the leading players and their personalities, friends and families

Mr. Sorkin wisely tells this sprawling story in a focused way, reconstructing how crucial figures experienced the ructions almost hour by hour . . . Mr. Sorkin’s coverage of the crisis in 2008 was based on hundreds of interviews, but most of the people in this tale have been dead for decades. You would be forgiven for forgetting it. The combination of extensive research and a lively tone makes both the crash and the men involved feel more recent

In 1929 Andrew Ross Sorkin brings the drama of the crash to a high pitch. He has consulted weather reports, diaries, architectural records and every newspaper imaginable to create a vivid and historically accurate account of the boom, crash, and aftermath. Although Mr. Sorkin offers hints that the crash looms larger in our memory than it did in the moment, his focus is on portraying the lives of the people who lived through it. It is one of the best narrative histories I’ve read

Vivid, pacy, a gallery of finely drawn pen portraits... shows how delusion, myopia and greed led to financial disaster... [Sorkin] reconstructs a Wall Street that is at once a period piece and familiar setting

An absolutely riveting & illuminating account of the '29 market crash, one that clarifies many misinterpretations & has deep resonance today

David Grann, New York Times bestselling author

Groundbreaking... Whereas Galbraith saw the crash through the lens of economics, Sorkin comes at it as a scoop-driven storytelling business journalist, of which he is one of the best. Having written the definitive fly-on-the-wall account of the financial crisis of 2008, Too Big to Fail, and co-created the hit hedge fund television melodrama Billions, Sorkin is again strong on character, drama and narrative, bringing events and long-dead personalities to life in all their complexity and colour

One of my books of 2025... a character-led study of the events leading up to the Great Crash

I am absolutely loving 1929... He writes things so brilliantly, he writes it like a page turner and its absolutely fascinating… it’s an extraordinary story.

A new [Andrew Ross Sorkin] book is always at the top of my reading list

It would be tempting to say that among bestselling American financial authors, Andrew Ross Sorkin is the new Michael Lewis . . . 1929 is an epic exercise in bringing history to life through its big characters. Like Too Big to Fail it will be labelled ‘definitive’—and deservedly so

In this glorious account of the 1929 crash, Andrew Ross Sorkin conjures up the mad euphoria, crushing collapse, and subsequent political reckoning with equal finesse. He tells the story through a rich cast of unforgettable characters and resists the urge to portray them as simple heroes or villains so much as flawed people lost in a calamity almost beyond their comprehension. This converts his saga into a timeless cautionary tale that speaks to the present no less than the past

Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Washington

Andrew Ross Sorkin has done it again. 1929 is mesmerizing from beginning to end—a deeply important book. Like Too Big to Fail, it’s a masterclass in narrative nonfiction, a dazzling tale of a pivotal moment in history brought to life through meticulous reporting. The colorful characters, the politics, the financial mania—it all unfolds with eerie relevance. You feel like you’re reading about today. I was blown away

Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin

In Andrew Ross Sorkin’s fresh and revealing telling, the stock market crash of 1929 becomes a great human drama, full of contingency and misunderstanding, friends and enemies, courage and fear, greed and generosity. Out of that financial catastrophe came many of the institutions and ideas that we still turn to in moments of crisis. But as Sorkin shows, even those with the greatest wealth and power and experience can still be caught off guard by the twists and turns of history

Beverly Gage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of G-Man

With a storyteller’s eye and an expert’s grasp of detail, Andrew Ross Sorkin has given us an engaging and memorable account of one of the largest events in American history—the Crash of 1929. In Sorkin’s gifted hands, this is a human drama with profound consequences for democracy and for capitalism—and it is a reminder of the fragility of the things we like to think are invulnerable.

Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion

When a story of immense historical gravity—the drama and trauma of 1929—meets a writer steeped in its scholarship and gifted with a rare clarity of vision, the result is a work of lasting resonance: tangible and immediate. In 1929, Andrew Ross Sorkin captures the moment when ambition, greed, and speculative euphoria collided to plunge America into an economic abyss, sparking the Great Depression. Through vivid storytelling and a cast of powerfully rendered characters, Sorkin reveals a nation at the breaking point—grappling with denial, reckoning, and the steep cost of excess. It’s a haunting elegy for a fractured era, and a timeless reminder that progress is fragile, choices have repercussions, and the flaws embedded in the human condition are ours to confront

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of No Ordinary Time

In this gripping account of the Great Crash of 1929, Andrew Ross Sorkin tells the story through the actions of a handful of the central protagonists, among them a rogue's gallery of Wall Street bankers and speculators, living in their own make-believe world, Washington politicians grappling with forces they did not fully understand, and Federal Reserve officials torn by outside pressures. As you read his brilliant narrative, the tragic arc of the personal stories mirrored by the unfolding calamity overtaking the nation at large, you cannot help but think of today

Riveting, timely... brings to life the furious disputes between brokers and policymakers, the frantic attempts to keep the economic ship on an even keel and the blunders that helped tip the entire financial system into freefall

The Inside Story of The Greatest Crash in Wall Street History

In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and panicked traders, another drama unfolded—one of visionaries and fraudsters, titans and dreamers, euphoria and ruin. 
 
With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin takes readers inside the chaos of the crash, behind the scenes of a raging battle between Wall Street and Washington and the larger-than-life characters whose ambition and naivety in an endless boom led to wreckage. The dizzying highs and brutal lows of this era eerily mirror today’s world—where markets soar, political tensions mount, and the fight over financial influence plays out once again. 
 
This is not just a story about money. 1929 is a tale of power, psychology, and the seductive illusion that “this time is different.” It’s about disregarded alarm bells, financiers who fell from grace, and skeptics who saw the crash coming—only to be dismissed until it was too late. 
 
Hailed as a landmark book, Too Big to Fail reimagined how financial crises are told. Now, with 1929, Sorkin delivers an immersive, electrifying account of the most pivotal market collapse of all time—with lessons that remain as urgent as ever. More than just a history, 1929 is a crucial blueprint for understanding the cycles of speculation, the forces that drive financial upheaval, and the warning signs we ignore at our peril.

1929

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Andrew Ross Sorkin

Praise for 1929

Sorkin's vivid and forensic account . . . is a real eye-opener . . . a work of true scholarship, the fruits of eight years of research by Sorkin drawing on an extensive array of materials ...

Mr. Sorkin wisely tells this sprawling story in a focused way, reconstructing how crucial figures experienced the ructions almost hour by hour . . . Mr. Sorkin’s coverage of the crisis in 2008 was base ...

In 1929 Andrew Ross Sorkin brings the drama of the crash to a high pitch. He has consulted weather reports, diaries, architectural records and every newspaper imaginable to create a vivid and histor ...

Sorkin's vivid and forensic account . . . is a real eye-opener . . . a work of true scholarship, the fruits of eight years of research by Sorkin drawing on an extensive array of materials ...

Mr. Sorkin wisely tells this sprawling story in a focused way, reconstructing how crucial figures experienced the ructions almost hour by hour . . . Mr. Sorkin’s coverage of the crisis in 2008 was base ...

In 1929 Andrew Ross Sorkin brings the drama of the crash to a high pitch. He has consulted weather reports, diaries, architectural records and every newspaper imaginable to create a vivid and histor ...

Sorkin's vivid and forensic account . . . is a real eye-opener . . . a work of true scholarship, the fruits of eight years of research by Sorkin drawing on an extensive array of materials ...

Mr. Sorkin wisely tells this sprawling story in a focused way, reconstructing how crucial figures experienced the ructions almost hour by hour . . . Mr. Sorkin’s coverage of the crisis in 2008 was base ...

In 1929 Andrew Ross Sorkin brings the drama of the crash to a high pitch. He has consulted weather reports, diaries, architectural records and every newspaper imaginable to create a vivid and histor ...

Books by Andrew Ross Sorkin

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