The Last Tycoons

Hats off to William Cohan for a wonderful book about the history of an investment bank. In almost 700 pages we learn the exhaustive history of Lazard and its Great Men.

The title is "The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co." The long subtitle is "A tale of unrestrained ambition, billion-dollar fortunes, byzantine power struggles, and hidden scandal." Indeed!

For 150+ years these bankers dispensed advice to businesses and earned enormous fees. It's all here--from the small dry goods store founded in New Orleans to Bruce Wasserstein commandeering the company in 2002 and taking it public shortly thereafter.

What might sound boring or exhausting is, for the most part, actually engaging. I think this is due to Cohan's ability to corral a million facts into highly readable and even action-packed prose. I'm downright envious of his writing ability.

My only nit to pick is the lack of photos. Given the depth of characterizations it would have been handy to see what the players look like.