Full name: Anatomy of Greed: The Unshredded Truth from an Enron Insider

Author: Brian Cruver Year: 2002 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Business, Non Fiction, History Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780786710935 9780786712052 0786710934 0786712058

Brian Cruver was a firsthand witness to the disturbing, surreal, and hilarious moments of Enron's long dance with death. When he first entered Enron's office complex, "the Death Star," he was the epitome of the Enron employee: young, brash, sporting a shiny new MBA, and obscenely overpaid. From his first day, however, when he was told that some colleagues hadn't really wanted to see him hired, he found himself in the middle of a venal greed machine whose story unfolded with all the absurdity and frustration of a tale by Kafka crossed with Tulipomania and Liar's Poker. While Cruver's book examines the accounting tricks, the insider stock trades--and in a special section, how the grossly lucrative fraudulent partnerships were structured and funded--it also describes everyday life as an Enronian--cocky wheeling and dealing, the sex 'n keg party on the trade floor, casual conversations at the shredder, and the insidious group-think that made Enron employees unquestioningly accept propaganda spoon-fed them by Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling and others, such as Tom White, then Vice-Chairman of Enron Energy Services, now Secretary of the Army under George W. Bush. Part of a team with rare "double" access to both external customers and internal systems, Cruver reveals the twisted reality behind the world's perception of Enron as one of the world's great corporations. Demonstrating a clear understanding of how business issues intertwines with human foibles, Cruver exposes Enron's flaws in an entertaining way all readers can understand. A portrait of the author as a young Enronian, Anatomy of Greed reveals the sting of reality, humility, and pain felt by a man whose idols turned out to be fools and scoundrels, and who learned that there is more to life than stock options. Soon to be a TV/film drama, this is a gonzo chronicle that goes behind the scenes to chart the decline and fall of the world's weirdest and richest business cult. Similar books: Conspiracy of Fools by Kurt Eichenwald Pipe Dreams by Robert Bryce Deluxe by Dana Thomas Engines of Change by Paul Ingrassia Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury Console Wars by Blake J. Harris The Spider Network by David Enrich The Seven Sisters by Anthony Sampson The Box by Marc Levinson For God, Country, and Coca-Cola by Mark Pendergrast Powerhouse by James Andrew Miller Grocery by Michael Ruhlman The Conquest of Cool by Thomas Frank Billion Dollar Lessons by Paul Carroll World Without Mind by Franklin Foer Punching Out by Paul Clemens Planet Google by Randall Stross Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy by Eamon Javers The Coke Machine by Michael Blanding Cubed by Nikil Saval