The Lost Bank: The Story of Washington Mutualthe Biggest Bank Failure in American History

Synopsis

During the most dizzying days of the financial crisis, Washington Mutual, a bank with hundreds of billions of dollars in its coffers, suffered a crippling bank run. The story of its final, brutal collapse in the autumn of 2008, and its controversial sale to JPMorgan Chase, is an astonishing account of how one bank lost itself to greed and mismanagement and how the entire financial industryand even the entire countrylost its way as well. Kirsten GrindsThe Lost Bankis a magisterial and gripping account of these events, tracing the cultural shifts, the cockamamie financial engineering, and the hubris and avarice that made this incredible story possible. The men and women who become the central players in this tragedythe regulators and the bankers, the home buyers and the lenders, the number crunchers and the shareholdersare heroes and villains, perpetrators and victims, often switching roles with one another as the drama unfolds. Written as compellingly as the finest fiction,The Lost Bankmakes it clear that the collapse of Washington Mutual was not just the largest bank failure in American history. It is a story of talismanic qualities, reflecting the incredible rise and the precipitous collapse of not only an institution but of trust, fortunes, and the marketplaces for risk across the world.