Includes bibliographical references (p. [425]-457) and index.

The still-unfolding financial story is terrifying. One by one, major corporations such as Enron, Global Crossing, and Worldcom are imploding all around as, prey to a greed-driven culture and dubious or illegal corporate finance and accounting. Our financial system has suddenly reached a perilous crossroads. In a compelling and disturbing narrative, Frank Partnoy brings to bear all of his skills and experience as a securities attorney, financial analyst, law professor, and bestselling author to tell the story of the rise of the trading instruments and corporate financial structures that now imperil the economic health of the country. Starting in the mid-1980s, Partnoy traces a seamless progression to today's dangerous manipulations. He documents how each new level of financial risk and complexity obscured the sickness of the company in question, and required ever more ingenious deceptions. The story becomes more alarming with each passing day, but Partnoy offers a clear vision of how we can step back from the precipice.