A LONG, WILD RIDE Paper Fortunes is the richly-detailed story of Wall Street from post-war heyday to present woes, from a player whose experiences, profiles of the colorful personalities involved and learned observations of the forces shaping the business make it insightful and timely. Smith, a long-time Goldman Sachs banker and now a distinguished NYU professor of finance, enables anyone working on the Street, investing with it, or just appalled by its worst shenanigans to understand how the industry has grown, changed and evolved, and what its future prospects are. From various Goldmans, Sachses, and Lehmans through to Richard Fuld, Henry Paulson and Tim Geithner, Paper Fortunes tells the ongoing story of the shifting U.S. market economy through the actions of the people who've shaped it for the last 60 years and will shape it for the next 60 years.

Roy C. Smith was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs for more than twenty years and is the Kenneth Langone Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at New York University's Stern School, where he has been for the past twenty. He is the author of several books, including The Global Bankers, The Money Wars, and The Wealth Creators.