Black and White on Wall Street: The Untold Story of the Man Wrongly Accused of Bringing Down Kidder Peabody
Author: Joseph Jett, Sabra Chartrand
List Price: $25.00
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ISBN: 0688161367
Publisher: William Morrow (April, 1999)
Sales Rank: 42,473
Average Customer Rating: 3.6 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 2 out of 5
Ends up as story where you just don't care...
This could have been an interesting book -- a black man who fights his way to Wall Street, makes millions, and ends up in tangled web of lies and corruption. I picked it up because the story of Joseph Jett seemed intriguing, but sadly, the book ends up being dragged down by the fact that Jett is a very unlikeable person, the way he tells the story makes it obvious that he is lying about what actually happened, and in the end the book doesn't say much more about Wall Street than we already know. Jett was fingered as the guilty party in a bond trading scandal at the firm of Kidder Peabody and black-listed from Wall Street. This book is Jett's attempt at his side of the story in an effort to prove his innocence. The main problem for me in reading this book is that Jett comes across as a real jerk, and as a result, I really didn't empathize with his position and I really didn't care about what happened to him -- my feeling was "This greedy arrogant jerkwad got what he deserved."
Secondly, the parts of the book detailing what supposedly happened at Kidder Peabody just don't seem realistic. I've worked in the securities industry, so I have something to guage Jett's story by, and it just doesn't come across as 100% accurate. I think the real truth is somewhere in the middle of what Kidder Peabody said, and what Jett said.
The early chapters of the book, where Jett describes his upbringing and life before Wall Street, were the best ones, because you get to understand the forces that drive him and the barriers he had to overcome. The book rapidly degenerates after the early chapters and I found it quite boring. If you haven't read any books about Wall Street or the real world of finance, then you might find this interesting. If you have, you won't miss anything by skipping Jett's tale.
Rating: 3 out of 5
SWAMPLAND IN FLORIDA
It's been a few years since I read and first reviewed this book. In that time I have come to appreciate the details quite a bit more.
Kidder Peabody was a trading operation, just like Enron. If we had taken Mr.Jett seriously, perhaps a few people would still have their 401k's at the Houston company. For those who say Jett is a liar, compare his situation to what brought down Enron. Read June's issue of L.A. magazine, there's a story of a young Enron trader who couldn't quite figure out how his company made either.
If by now you still don't believe Mr. Jett, I've got some swampland......
Rating: 4 out of 5
Execellent Book!
As a African-American I found this book to be very informative. It helped cultivate my knowledge of blacks in corporate America. Moreover, Jett is a great writer, I've also learned many new vocabulary in this book.This book also teach you to trust no one.
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