The inside story on Drexel, 14. Juli 2000

Yes, Drexel was an ugly firm. Connie Bruck's detailed account of the firm's rise to and fall from glory does a tremendous job of explaining exactly how and why junk bonds were so lucrative and so dangerous. This book will make it difficult to maintain that the highly leveraged buyout is anything better than the nuclear weapon of corporate finance--perhaps useful as a theoretical threat, but ruinous when actually implemented. This book also makes it clear that, with the exception of Michael Milken, few of the protagonists were especially talented or clever individuals--they were just at the right place in the right time.

      The Dark Side of Wall Street, 7. Juli 2000

This book is not only for the general readers, but also is a great read for business students - especially who are working hard towards becoming future titans of Wall Street. There are the glamorous side of the billion-dollar deals, and also the dirty side of threats, inside circles and the "girls" at the Predators' Ball. You always know about the success stories at cocktail parties - losers never get invited.

I have no way of telling whether the research has been done in a well represented way, since Milken himself was not interviewed - he didn't want the book to be published. However, I am still very impressed by Ms. Bruck's effort and her lesson : in the end, there are no heros, just self-interest and greenbacks flying around in the little corner of Manhattan drowned in sunset.

      Boring and Misdirected, 17. Juni 2000

Spurious, sensationalistic, and, yet, uninteresting--Bruck somehow manages to exaggerate an inherently entralling story to the point of abstraction and, ultimately, of flavorless moralizing.

      well written and informative, 26. April 2000

This is a good book for anybody interested in the late 80s shenanigans on the Street. The writer is a journalist, and has done great research. The book includes a ton of information, yet is written in a conversational style that makes it easy to read.

      Good and important reading but indiscerned writer, 24. Mai 1999

Predators ball by Connie Bruck is a recommended reading for the already discerned person, who has some knowledge of the real Milken story.

Bruck makes it clear how much her contempt for Milken and "his" Drexel company is, and yet she does not fail to point out the great achievement he made viable : giving capital to companies that had been previously disclosed from any kind of lending ability.

Her contempt for Milken and his working style is so deep, that she blames him of faults that have never been the cause of accusations against him, neither publicly nor through the DA or State attorneys. This is in particular sad, since up to a certain point she discovers the good sides of the Drexel revolution, but for example the fact that Drexel admiettedly rendered callgirls to its top customers at the socalled predators balls in LA makes in her mind every punishment acceptable and worth the effort.

Although the afterword was written long after the indictment and abjudication of Milken, the author does not invoke the causes of Milkens sentence, which were merely political and not based on a real assumption of the commitment of a crime. It should have come to the mind of any author, that a sentence that starts with the words "You have been the cause of the greedy century" is not a acceptable reasoning in legal terms, rather a description of contempt spurred by the sudden revelation of an extraordi- narily high salary. So we have to blame the author not only there but also in other areas of poor journalism; a book, on a living person in particular, should be based on facts rather than gossip of clients trying to get their heads out of the scaffold and prosecutors trying to wrench out a candidature for president of the prosecution of a single man.

Mrs Brook has undoubtedly written the first book on Milken, however it should be the first to get out of print unless she rewrites the important conclusion on the persons described.

Dr. Rudolf C. King CEO, princeandprince.com Ltd Owner of HouseOfCommerce Indonesia HouseOfCommerce@ibm.net Munich Germany