The Spider Network
The financial writer David Enrich writes about the people and organizations behind the Libor scandal in a way that reminds me of Michael Lewis, but without the misguided fawning admiration for his subject.
This book has me furious - with a sprawling cast of characters that, when faced with a growning realization that a key financial instrument was being manipulated, each wanting to figure out how to get in on the action rather than make it stop.
While we have been told that, from the standpoint of law, coporations are people, when it comes time for accountability they prove to be sandcastles. Corporations are systems. And while people can sometimes be modeled by systems, they are capable of violating expectations. When you realize that the villian at the center of The Spider Network is actually an anti-hero, like some kind of Tony Subprimo protagonist, this book becomes even more maddening.