Boomerang

December 5, 2011
Essentially an offbeat travelogue, Lewis's latest examines the recent global financial crisis by visiting the locales that have faltered beyond reasonable expectation. Though journalistic, there is a distinctly anthropological approach to vivid depictions of how particular cultural values contributed to such a bizarre, devastating series of events. In his dynamic narrative, Lewis simplifies complex financial systems without condescension, applies a degree of rationality to absurd decisions, and presents key individuals' profiles without denigration. Dark, deadpan humor is injected throughout: Iceland as a nation of fishermen-cum-hedge fund managers with "no idea what they were doingâ; Greece's "fantastic messâ of scandalous monasteries, tax-evasion and top-down corruption; Ireland's busted banks and stratospheric losses debilitating a now "distinctly third worldâ country. Germany is singled-out for its "preternatural love of rulesâ and naiveté regarding the so-called "riskless assetâ while California tops the list of "America's scariest financial placesâ following their ratings downgrade and piling debts. Easily devoured in one sitting, Lewis (Moneyball) manages to gracefully explain what happened with a unique regard for both the strengths and weaknesses of humankind.

After the housing bubble burst and the giant banking bailouts began, a number of world economies hung--and still hang--in the balance. Dylan Baker uses a friendly, folksy delivery to examine the fascinating, frightening, and mind-boggling ways that the cultures of Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, and, yes, California handled the pursuit of wealth. Icelandic fishermen stopped fishing and became currency traders. The Irish saw themselves as land barons. Californians paid too much for everything. And they all ended up being left on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars--and still are. Baker's voice reflects Michael Lewis's bemused realization that many of these cultures and individuals had no idea of the manipulative power of the global financial industry. If you didn't laugh, you'd cry. B.P. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine