I haven't yet read the new James Stewart book about 9/11 but all of the others are very interesting, fair balanced accounts of the chosen subject matter. Highly recommended.
As a student studying finance, I was told to read this book by my cousin who worked in the financial world. After I finished, I had a more realistic view of the intensity of Wall Street. This intense competition and desire for money drove some people over the edge. Such was the case for Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Terry Mulheren, and their cohorts. To a certain extent, these men were driven to cheat and steal by insatiable greed.
You do not have to know much about the financial world to enjoy this fast paced thriller. The joy in this book is in the hunt. Once the SEC became aware of Milken's activities, they had to find a way to prove it and then had to take Milken down. Once Milken was taken out of his office in handcuffs and Rudy Guliani began to build his case, Milken's "associates" began to sing like canaries in the hope of cutting a deal with the government.
I love reading books about criminals who get what is coming to them. Michael Milken and friends deserved every bit of jail time they got. This definitely a book about criminals getting what they deserved. James Stewart draws you in within the first 20 pages, from there I hope you have some spare time because you will not be able to put it down.
In examining the 19th Century movement, Stewart focuses most of his book on the Antebellum period and shows the importance of religion and moral suasion in the movement. Stewart also examines how, as time progressed, the movement expanded into the political realm through third parties such as the Liberty and Free Soil parties and how the ideas of the abolitionists influenced the formation of the Republican Party in the mid-1850s. Divisions emerged over the extent to which the abolitionists should become involved in politics and parties corrupted by slaveholders.
The main weakness of this book, in my opinion is that the Civil War years are only briefly covered. It was during these years that the abolitionists were able to put the most pressure on the federal government to take action against slavery. It was also during these years that many of the goals of the abolitionist movement were met. While racial equality was not obtained during Reconstruction, certain rights were guaranteed through Constitutional amendments. Abolitionists played roles in turning the Civil War into a war merely to preserve the Union into a war to create "a more perfect union." This role should be more fully examined in a history of the abolitionist movement.
The book does not flow as quickly as his last book "Den of Thieves" nor is it as gripping. It is, however, a very well constructed and researched book. If you are interested in this particular issue then I have not come across a book with a better non-partisan telling of this story. If you are looking for an overall detailed account of the election or the first four years in the Clinton White House I would suggest the Woodward books "The Agenda" and "The Choice" and the Elizabeth Drew book "Showdown: The Struggle between the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton White House".
The book details the business partnerships the Clintons had with the McDougals from the 1970's on the 1990's and its fall out. The story stretches from Arkansas to the White House and even goes a bit into the suicide of Vince Foster.
Stewart makes no judgments as to whether any impropriety occurred in any business dealings, so this is a good place to start for an objective reader who wants to make up his own mind about the whole sordid mess.
Anything by James Stewart is worth reading.