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HOW THEY GOT AWAY WITH IT

Name: HOW THEY GOT AWAY WITH IT
Author: Susan Will
ISBN: 978-0-231-15691-2

WHITE COLLAR CRIMINALS AND THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN

edited by Susan Will & Stephen Handelman & David C. Brotherton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 20, 2012

The lessons to be learned are many, but, the editors conclude, the regulatory mechanisms meant to preclude future meltdowns,...

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Think Bernie Madoff was an outlier? To gauge by some of the contributors to this volume, the whole speculative economy is a vast Ponzi scheme.

Indeed, notes David Shapiro, a legal/financial investigator, there are some fine distinctions between “hedge and private equity funds and Ponzi schemes,” the former being “pools of investment capital that are largely unregulated by federal, state, and local authorities,” which is just the way the wizards of Wall Street like it. By contrast, of course, other investment instruments such as mutual funds are intricately regulated, such that financial hanky-panky seldom occurs there, at least not by comparison. Shapiro wonders why it is that a financial crisis is required to ferret out the bad guys, observing, “The nature of today’s unregulated or lightly regulated market often makes the distinction between outright fraud and high-risk vehicles hard to discern.” In such a climate, an operator like Madoff was destined for success, and that he got away with it for so long—thus the title of the book—is a matter that should provoke much discussion among regulators. Writes Jock Young, “He is the right gender to be sure but the wrong class, ethnicity, and age; we usually spend our time looking down, not up, the social structure when analyzing criminal behavior.” “They”—the layers of malfeasants that include “Wall Street, Washington, and Main Street”—got away with it for so long, in other words, because people were looking the wrong way, hoping, in the case of Main Street, to get a little of the proceeds themselves, and no one should have been surprised when the whole thing came tumbling down.

The lessons to be learned are many, but, the editors conclude, the regulatory mechanisms meant to preclude future meltdowns, such as the Dodd-Frank Act, are now under assault. Stay tuned.

Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-231-15691-2

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Columbia Univ.

Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.