Pipe Dreams: Greed, Ego, and the Death of Enron

A classic investigative narrative of how Enron's business practices led to its own downfall, Pipe Dreams reveals what went wrong not just on the books, but in the minds and hearts of the company's managers.
The self-destruction of Enron, once America's seventh-largest company, was the most spectacular failure of a company in a generation, with devastating impact on workers, investors, and the American economy. Anyone interested in business or in our culture needs to know just how it happened. Robert Bryce's Pipe Dreams, widely praised as the best book published on Enron, is a hard-hitting, incisive, and compelling narrative that explains the company's rise and fall while illuminating the personalities, egos, and dreams of the people who built the company and of those who destroyed it.

In a new afterword to the paperback edition, Bryce also examines the current "state of the suits" and their enormous cost to the American public.

"Finally, an Enron book that actually explains what happened at Enron," said Publishers Weekly: "This isn't just the first book to make sense out of the debacle; it's a vivid cautionary tale about the consequences of the lurid excesses-personal and professional."

From Publishers Weekly
Finally, an Enron book that actually explains what happened at Enron. Bryce, an Austin, Tex., journalist familiar with the energy and telecommunications industries, offers a colorful account of the most spectacular corporate self-destruction in American history. Tracing the company's history, he shows how deal-focused executives like CEO Jeff Skilling transformed a fiscally responsible energy supplier into an out-of-control trading firm. He describes risky practices, like "mark-to-market" accounting and shell corporations, in clear, concise language that doesn't confuse readers who don't have MBAs. The book relies heavily on good ol' boy colloquialisms (e.g., "If [George W.] Bush had been any more simpatico to Enron, he could've been charged with a misdemeanor under the state of Texas' buggery laws") but backs up every unusual assertion, revealing, for example, connections between Bush and Enron going back to the mid-1980s. Not that Democrats were innocent; there's also extensive coverage on what Enron got from government agencies during the Clinton administration. While the emphasis on sexual misconduct among the top brass and its correlation to the financial shenanigans is arguable, Bryce makes a reasonable case for former chairman Ken Lay's unwillingness to control his staff's behavior-and inability to lead by example. This isn't just the first book to make sense out of the debacle; it's a vivid cautionary tale about the consequences of the lurid excesses-personal and professional-of the recently ended economic bubble, where corporations and their employees were so obsessed with acquiring wealth they became "dumber than a box of hammers" about making-and saving-money.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
The first Enron expose (The Anatomy of Greed, by Brian Cruver [BKL UF Ag 02]) was a view from the inside by a former Enron employee with a focus on the final months leading to Enron's demise. This one is a comprehensive piece of investigative journalism that gives a much larger overview of the energy industry, the history of Houston, and the complete story of how a medium-sized gas pipeline company became an international energy developer and trader in the complex world of energy derivatives. Along the way, Austin Chronicle reporter Bryce reveals the political history of "The Crooked E" with its ties to the Bush family and Senator Phil Gramm, who, without shame, sponsored legislation that directly benefited Enron and allowed the company to conceal its debts. All of the high-level players at Enron are profiled, and you get an excellent sense of their personalities and plenty of gossip about the sexual infidelities that ran rampant with this group of executives. Most importantly, Bryce unveils the intricate accounting schemes that allowed Enron to switch from a healthy cash flow business into one that put all its emphasis on trading revenues while ignoring the massive expenses that would ultimately pull the company into bankruptcy. Bryce's account is a prime example of how greed, arrogance, and influence lead to corruption, deception, and ruin. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Robert Bryce spent twelve years as a reporter for the Austin Chronicle and was most recently a senior writer at Interactive Week. He has published more than 800 articles for publications including The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Talk, Texas Monthly, U. S. News & World Report, and Salon. He lives in Austin, Texas. PublicAffairs will publish his new book, Cronies, in spring 2004.