About the book: 2010 / They were the rats of Wall Street. Four close friends: one a decorated war hero with medals on his chest, another an emotional hippie and two ordinary guys with big hearts, big dreams and noble goals. They were going to get rich on Wall Street. They were going to prove that people like them - with zero financial training - could play on an equal footing with competing Ivy League-educated bankers in white shoes. They were going to create a company for people like them - hungry and uneducated - and win, but not at the cost of their souls. In short, they were going to be the good guys in finance. Under their watch, Lehman Brothers began to grow and became independent again in 1994. But then something went wrong. People slowly, perhaps inevitably, changed. As Lehman Brothers grew, cracks appeared among those who had rebuilt it. Ward takes us to Lehman's offices. You'll meet famous leaders who have been erased from the corporate history books but who could have taken the firm in a completely different direction if they had not become victims of infighting and their own weaknesses. You will encounter the unlikely and largely unknown "Marcus Brutus," who is perhaps more to blame for Lehman's failures than anyone else, including Dick Fuld, who is widely seen as the personification of bankers' mistakes and greed. Ward recounts how Lehman may have lost in risky plays with collateralized debt obligations, swaps and leverage, but that was the end of the larger story. Lehman used to be a Wall Street store known for always struggling and somehow succeeding. On Wall Street they cheekily called her the cat with nine lives. But this cat went too far - and died, becoming a victim of those blinded by arrogance. Enter the Devil's Casino and watch the nobles go astray, and see how the company that rose with the glory and bravado of Icarus fell, engulfed in flames not so much from the sun as from the match lit within.