Too Big to Fail [293]
Desperate to talk to someone about what had just happened, I woke up my wife, Pilar Queen, to share the news with her. “You’re not going to believe this,” I said, as I recounted all of the dramatic details. “It’s like a movie!”
Pilar looked at me for a split second, and before pulling the sheets back around herself and going back to sleep, she said, “No, it’s like a book.”
For the entire week after that conversation I resisted even considering the idea of writing a book. I was overwhelmed with my reporting for the paper, and the thought of ever writing more than a few thousand words at once frankly scared me. But Pilar was persistent, nudging me gently but firmly, and ultimately persuading me to take on the task, believing that I was capable of doing so even when I didn’t. For virtually the next 365 days she encouraged me through the completion of this project—one that often felt like trying to sprint for the duration of an entire marathon.
I also owe a special thank-you to my parents, Joan and Larry Sorkin, and to my sister, Suzie. Whatever success I’ve had in my life has been a direct result of their love and support. When I was in high school they would all anxiously hover over me as I struggled to write my term papers; to them—and to me—the very idea that I would end up writing a book is more than a little inconceivable.
There is one important family member I need to mention who didn’t get to read this book—or witness the climax of the financial crisis. Up until the Friday of “Lehman Weekend”—September 12, 2008—I was fortunate enough to have all four of my grandparents. But that Friday my grandfather Sidney Sorkin passed away at ninety-one years old. He had always been a voracious a reader, and I felt that he would have urged me to continue to cover the events of that weekend as I grieved his death.
I have been encouraged throughout my life by my three other grandparents, Chester and Barbara Ross and Lilly Sorkin—all proudly over the age of ninety—who have also been tremendous sources of support over the past year.
Writing a book can be an isolating experience, but I was helped through it by so many dear friends at various points in the process that I never felt alone. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Jeff Cane, my former longtime editor at the Times, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of Wall Street and offered his assistance from the very beginning. My pal Jim Impoco, another of my favorite former editors at the Times, offered keen suggestions throughout, as did Hugo Lindgren, a brilliant editor at New York magazine (and another former Timesman). Michelle Memran, researcher and fact-checker extraordinaire, tracked down the most obscure details and made the most meticulous timelines imaginable, helping me keep track of a very complicated plot. In the final weeks of the project, Pam Newton, another researcher, tirelessly located people on various continents. These friends worked at all hours, often sacrificing time with their families, to help me see this project through.
One of the reasons I wrote this book at all was that I was lucky enough to have as my editor Viking’s Rick Kot, who edited my favorite business book of all time, Barbarians at the Gate. Rick was a good friend before this project, and he’s an even better friend now. He hustled to make this book work under enormous time pressure, and his deft editing improved every page. His assistant, Laura Tisdel, was also remarkable, simultaneously juggling a dozen moving parts at the same time. Clare Ferraro, Viking’s president, believed in the vision of this project from the moment I walked in the door to pitch it. I am also indebted to the rest of the Viking team, who worked around the clock to make this book