The Investor's Shelf — one person

Michael Milken

BiographiesBankers, traders and financiers

Head of high-yield bonds at Drexel Burnham Lambert; convicted of securities violations in 1990, pardoned in 2020.

7 biographies about them

Biographies about them 7

A sharply adversarial literature: two prosecution-side classics and two defences.

The Predators' Ball
The Predators' Ball
Connie Bruck · 1988 · Written before the indictment; the best portrait of the Drexel machine.
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Den of Thieves
Den of Thieves
James B. Stewart · 1991 · Pulitzer-winning account of the insider-trading prosecutions.
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Merchants of Debt
Merchants of Debt
George Anders · 1992 · KKR and the buyout machine Milken's bonds funded.
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The Junk Bond Revolution
The Junk Bond Revolution
Fenton Bailey · 1991 · British view of Drexel; more interested in the instrument than the man.
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Highly Confident: The Crime and Punishment o
Highly Confident: The Crime and Punishment of Michael Milken
Jesse Kornbluth · 1992 · Sympathetic; written with access to Milken's circle.
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A License to Steal
A License to Steal
Benjamin J. Stein · 1992 · Prosecution-side polemic; the angriest book on the shelf.
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Payback: The Conspiracy to Destroy Michael M
Payback: The Conspiracy to Destroy Michael Milken and His Financial Revolution
Daniel R. Fischel · 1995 · Defence-side rebuttal by a Milken expert witness.
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