Spoiling for a Fight; The Rise of Eliot Spitzer

[12], 353, [3] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Inscribed by the author on the title page. Inscription reads: To Christopher Davis, Enjoy! Brook A. Masters. Chapters include: When Markets Need to be Tamed, A Man in a Hurry, An Exciting Time to Be a New Yorker, A Shocking Betrayal of Trust, Going Global, Betting Today on Yesterday's Horse Races, Two Set of Rules, Simply Too Much, The Concrete Club, Foot Faults, The Limits of Spitzerism, To Dare Mighty Things, and Epilogue. Brooke Masters is the Financial Times' Chief Business Commentator and an Associate Editor. She has previously served as Opinion and Analysis Editor, Companies Editor, Chief Regulation Correspondent, City Correspondent and as a contributor to the Lex column. From 1989 to 2006, she worked for the Washington Post in a variety of capacities in New York and the Washington area. She has extensive experience writing about the US Securities and Exchange Commission and white-collar crime, including the cases against Bernard Madoff, Martha Stewart, Frank Quattrone and Bernard Ebbers. In prior assignments at the Post, she covered criminal justice, education, and politics. She graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1989 and earned a master's of science in economic history from the London School of Economics. The rise to power of Eliot Spitzer, the scourge of Wall Street and one of America's most controversial politicians, by the reporter who knows his crusade best. Few politicians have burst onto the American scene with as much impact as Eliot Spitzer. He has exposed wrongdoing by stock analysts, mutual fund managers, and insurance brokers, and he has investigated corporations that have misled or defrauded investors and consumers. When federal regulators have fallen down on their responsibilities, Spitzer has stepped in to protect ordinary, middle-class Americans. His actions as the New York State attorney general have made companies change the way they do business, which in turn affects every American with a retirement plan, an insurance policy, or a prescription to fill. No reporter has had better or more complete behind-the-scenes access to Spitzer's operation--and to the strategies that have underpinned his crusade against these powerful forces in the American economy--than Brooke A. Masters of The Washington Post. In Spoiling for a Fight, she presents a portrait that is at once dramatic and revealing, raising the question of whether Spitzer's way of conducting government business is good or bad for America. Combining passion and zeal with a savvy understanding of the press, Spitzer has brought down some of the biggest names in American finance and now has his sights set on higher office. This revelatory book shows Americans how Spitzer has transformed their lives and what his crusade could mean for the future. First Edition [Stated]. Second printing [stated].…