Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy

Acknowledgments

All books are collaborative efforts, and Bailout Nation was more so than most. There were many people whose contributions were crucial to getting this project off the ground, and keeping it going when things started to falter.

Over the course of the past year, I wrote this book while working in an asset management firm, heading a research shop, all the while running a very active blog. This book was possible only thanks to the many helping hands involved.

Much of the book was written in real time, and early versions of parts of this appeared on The Big Picture(www.ritholtz.com). I would post ideas a few hundred words at a time, and readers would critique, poke, and prod my thought process along. These brave souls have my everlasting gratitude. Many of the insights, quotes, obscure references, and artworks within the book come courtesy of them.

There were many professional journalists and writers who selflessly shared sources, ideas, and insights with me. In particular, Dan Gross, Jesse Eisinger, Randall Forsyth, and Herb Greenberg all greatly impacted my process. If there are any parallels between my book and Dan's, it's because we batted more than a few ideas off of each other. Special thanks go to Thomas Donlan of Barron's, who took my disjointed ramblings in A Memo Found in the Street ("Dear D.C.") and turned them into a concise thing of beauty.

Numerous other authors were helpful with the process of writing a book, as well as influencing my own research and writing. ...