Uncover the True Story Behind the Conspiracy of Fools

Connie: Enjoyed the book and it was exactly like it was described

Canada on May 26, 2023

Mike Powers: Not long after I finished reading Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind's "The Smartest Guys in the Room," I found another book about the Enron scandals: "Conspiracy of Fools" by Kurt Eichenwald. I decided to read it, and I found it to be nearly as outstanding as "Smartest Guys." In some ways, it's even better.

Kurt Eichenwald, noted as one of the best business journalists in America, wrote "Conspiracy of Fools" like a fast-paced detective novel - only every one of his characters and events are real! He takes his readers through the myriad of complicated and crooked business dealings, some of them so convoluted it would seem almost impossible to follow them. And yet, Eichenwald makes everything and everyone completely understandable, even to non-business readers like me. That's no small feat considering the size, scope, and scale of the Enron scandals! Eichenwald's accomplishments in "Conspiracy of Fools" is especially impressive because he makes everything so interesting that I found the book nearly impossible to put down.

Eichenwald's and McLean's books complement each other very nicely. To me, McLean and Elkind's book seems a bit more topical, detailed, and technical...

United States on Jul 16, 2020

Objective: Amazing story, makes you scratch your head how in hell did they get away with it for so long. The financial crisis of 2008-09 that followed several years later was the same thing only spread over many more businesses (read: banks), and they also got away with it. In capitalism money is power, and nothing the poor peasants can do but keep going to work and pay taxes - same as in feudal times, but now they let us vote in a bandit that's going to rob us for the next 4-5 years.
No regulation will stop this this behaviour - people running those businesses are people writing those regulations. Ex - Goldman Sachs employees run Federal Reserve and many government institutions in charge of protecting our financial system. But guess what - only their 'friends' on Wall Street benefit.
But, back to the book - good read and an eye-opener. Unfortunately most people won't learn much from it and treat it just like another fiction novel.

Canada on Oct 13, 2015

Malleus Maleficarum: This book is the most comprehensive and well balanced chronicle of the fatal flaws that brought down Enron - the media and investor darling of the late 90s which collapsed in a spectacular heap of Congressional hearings and criminal trials in the early 2000s. This most riveting sections of the book are the ones which describe the frenzied, ultra-competitive, personality driven and share price obsessed rivalries between executives in the firm, each one trying to outdo the other and foisting a culture on the company that led to some really bad decisions that had immense long term consequences. It is in these pages that one comes to the realization that Enron's collapse was not orchestrated by a giant conspiracy to embezzle investors, it was the outcome of bad decision after bad decision piling on each other till the company could no longer bear the load. Reward systems were put in place that prized short term deals over long term value and ultimately, that's what killed Enron. The two principal executives pulling Enron in different directions were Jeff Skilling and Rebecca Mark. Skilling's trading and gas business adopted mark-to-market accounting that recognized revenues supposed...

United States on Feb 01, 2014

DOPPLEGANGER: In the past year alone I have read 42 recent economic history books, and hundreds over the past 10 years (sad old man you may well be thinking!) relating in the main to Corporate America and without any doubt on my part, conclude that 'Conspiracy Of Fools' by Kurt Eichenwald is the best by a Texas mile. Having already read 3 books on the Enron debacle (Enron - The Rise and Fall by Loren Fox, The Smartest Guys In The Room, by Peter Elkind & Bethany McLean, and 22 Days by Rebecca Smith & John R Emshwiller) all of which were good books, I was hesitant about buying this book as I wasn't sure what else I could add to my insight into the Enron saga. These doubts were soon dispelled as soon as I started to read this book, to the extent that it was so gripping that I could not put the book down and carried it about the house, getting through the 700+ pages in a few days.

There are many miscreants in this tale, all of whom primarily through a combination of greed. ego, fear or stupidity contributed to creating a business built on the 'white-sand-foundations' of fraudulent accounting, off-balance sheet skullduggery, illusory 'wonder' businesses, an avalanche of misleading...

United Kingdom on Feb 17, 2013

geert steenlant: L'histoire se répète, c'est la description des fantassins finaciers qui ont mis le feu au système économiques des USA. C'est également le reçit de l'incompétence des dirigeants d'une entreprise comme GDF Suez.

France on Dec 22, 2012

Paul: The Enron story is fascinating. This book takes this subject and makes it easy to understand, but gripping.

While it may not be everybody's taste, for me it was a page turner. The author conveys the subject of Enron and the people involved in an unbiased matter, based on facts. The use of dialogue adds to the thrilling nature of the book.

It's a great read for anyone interested in the subject, or for someone looking for something a bit different.

United Kingdom on Dec 12, 2012

GadgetChick: "Conspiracy of Fools" is more than a recounting of the missteps, gross negligence, and criminality that lead to Enron's collapse; it's a blueprint for other companies to follow about how NOT to run a company.

Eichenwald does a masterful job of explaining the ins and outs of the complicated financial dealings at Enron. The deals Enron made, and the off-books entities that were set up, were so complex most people within the company did not even understand them - and even people intimately involved with setting up the entities did not understand everyone's participation fully, until the end. Eichenwald is able to boil these down so that they can be understood in the context of the story, although I'll confess the intricate workings of some of the sham entities - like the Raptor deals - still escaped me.

What became abundantly clear as I read this book is that it was not the complicated partnerships that brought Enron down. The collapse of Enron boils down to two things: the wheelings and dealings of one incredibly corrupt, amoral man who was focused on enriching himself at all costs, and the absolute failure of the company's top executives to keep tabs on the most...

United States on May 30, 2005