McLean, Bethany and Elkind, Peter. The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. New York: Portfolio (Penguin Group), 2004. 440 pages.

In early 2001, Bethany McLean, a writer for Fortune magazine, wrote "Is Enron Overpriced?" It was the first time Enron had been publicly questioned. Jeffrey Skilling called her unethical for failing to do more research, and Kenneth Lay complained to Fortune's managing editor. They need not have bothered -- Fortune published it anyway, and the story had little effect. No one could understand those complex Enron financial statements. Her article, McLean says, "barely scratched the surface."

Eleven months later McLean was a hero, with a pensive photograph stretching across four columns on page A11 of the New York Times. Today this book is already a movie. What happened? To make a long story short, Enron collapsed spectacularly, followed by other huge corporations that had been enjoying a deregulated bubble economy. The execs at Enron, who used to hang out with important politicians, were now taking perp walks into court, escorted by the FBI. It wasn't entirely McLean's doing -- Peter Eavis from TheStreet.com turned up the heat on Enron with negative stories after McLean lost interest. But McLean and her coauthor, Fortune writer Peter Elkind, deserve a lot of credit, because this book is excellent. In addition, McLean, who was just 31 years old in 2002, photographs very well.
ISBN 1-59184-053-8

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