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CATCHING LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE: HOW MERRILL LYNCH REVOLUTIONIZED THE FINANCIAL WORLD Wint hrop H. Smit h J r. New York : Wi ley, 2014. 608 pages.
The fall of Mer rill Ly nch in 2008 was on e of the big new s stor ies of the t i m e . Six ye ars on , i t seems to have f ade d a little from memor y, unlike other big-name col la p ses su c h as L ehm an Brot her s a nd Roy a l Ban k of Scot la nd, w hich are st i l l much d i sc us se d .
Par t ly this is b ecause s o much else has h app e ne d a nd s o m a ny other fin a ncial inst itut ions have either gone to the wa l l or had n ea r-deat h ex p e r iences t hat Merr il l Ly nch has disappeared into the backg round; it might a lso be b ecause Mer r il l Ly nch, un l ike Lehm an, ended w ith a whimper rather than a bang. There were plent y of people around to obser ve and describe the demise of L eh m an , a n d Pe t e r C h a p m a n's T he Last of the Imperious Rich, in par ticular, reads in places like a Shakespearean t ragedy. Mer rill Ly nch lacked a chronicler of s imilar stature.
Until now. Winthrop H. Smith Jr. has produced a detailed and hig hly readable study of Merrill Ly nch, from its foundation through its glor y days until i t s f a l l . C atching Light ni ng in a Bot tle : How Mer rill Lynch Revolutionized the Financial World is likely to become the b ook about Merrill Ly nch. No other book written has th is wea lth of de tai l ab out t he comp a ny, and cer tainly no other book on the subj j c t h a s suc h a n u p cl...