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The Secret Club That Runs the World
The Secret Club That Runs the World
Oct 28, 2024 10:37 AM

Author:Kate Kelly

The Secret Club That Runs the World

Kate Kelly, acclaimed journalist and author of Street Fighters, investigates the world of commodities traders

When most of us think of the drama of global finance, we think of stocks and bonds. But commodities? Crude oil and soya beans? Copper and wheat? What could be more boring?

That's exactly what the elite commodity traders want us to think. They don't seek the spotlight. They don't want to be as famous as Warren Buffett. Their astonishing wealth was created in obscurity, because they dwell in private companies or deep within large banks and corporations.

But if the individuals in the commodities boom have gone unnoticed, their impact has not. Prices of raw materials have exploded. Are the big traders jacking up the cost of petrol, food, and essentials bought by people around the world? How did such immense power end up in the hands of a few?

In this riveting book, Kate Kelly takes us inside the inner circle that affects so many things we all depend on. Following a trail from New York to London to Dubai, from hedgefunds and banks to brokers and regulators, she reveals the fullest ever picture of the men who gamble with our future every day.

Reviews

Gripping ... even more shocking than you think ... Kelly is a master of storytelling

—— Independent on Sunday

Engaging

—— Financial Times

Outsiders know surprisingly little about this world, and Kate Kelly ... has done a good job of shedding light on some of the personalities who dominate it

—— The Economist

Black Edge is a real-life thriller about the government’s attempt to get the legendary trader Steve Cohen on insider trading charges—and the lengths to which he goes to elude them. Using deep reporting and top-notch storytelling, Sheelah Kolhatkar is able to shed new light on one of the least known and most fascinating characters on Wall Street.

—— Bethany McLean, co-author of THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM

Black Edge is not just a work of major importance, it is also addictively readable—and horrifyingly compelling. Sheelah Kolhatkar pulls back the curtain on the cheating, corruption, and skulduggery that underlie large swaths of the hedge fund industry and some of Wall Street’s most fabled fortunes. This book is as hard to put down as it is to stomach.

—— Jane Mayer, New York Times bestselling author of DARK MONEY

If you liked James B. Stewart’s Den of Thieves, Sheelah Kolhatkar’s thrilling Black Edge should be next on your reading list.

—— The Wall Street Journal

A richly reported, entertaining tale about the cat-and-mouse game between the government and Cohen.

—— Andrew Ross Sorkin , The New York Times Book Review

A lot of people do not trust Wall Street. They regard it as a moneymaking machine for those who work there, which has little interest in practice in its stated aim of channelling capital into businesses and helping them to grow for the broader benefit of society. For such sceptics, Steven Cohen is Exhibit A.

—— John Gapper , Financial Times

A modern version of Moby-Dick, with wiretaps rather than harpoons.

—— Jennifer Senior , The New York Times

Excellent

—— The Economist

Masterfully deconstructing a massive web of Wall Street ... a true-life thriller with Shakespearian stakes ... Her chilling account of a blighted industry is as mesmerizing as a human story as it is as a financial one.

—— Fortune

One of the best books about the 2008 financial meltdown.

—— The Globe and Mail

There are few financial-industry struggles as titanic as the one portrayed in these pages

—— Reuters BreakingViews

Well-written, with pointed characterizations of the ambitious players and their motives, this book is highly recommended for readers interested in finance, crime, and politics

—— Library Journal (starred review)

Black Edge is the story of the Justice Department's investigation into SAC Capital, and New Yorker staff writer Sheelah Kolhatkar has made it as gripping as a thriller.

—— Business Insider

One of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time ... Beautifully paced, jargon free, artfully arranged, deeply reported and properly researched... I wish all books were this good. You won’t regret reading this.

—— Om Malik

Well-written and well-reported, chock-a-block with ‘you-are-there’ moments.

—— Joe Nocera, Bloomberg

Kolhatkar has written a memorable and pathbreaking account of an era that is by no means over yet

—— The National Book Review

Black Edge reads like a legal thriller, except, it's all true. It also captures and defines an era on Wall Street when the only thing that mattered was: Black Edge

—— CNBC

Well worth the read. I couldn’t put it down

—— Investing.com

A potent book... an incisive social critique that slices through financial jargon and gobbledygook to accurately map the all-too-common corruption in America’s hedge funds that are sucking up billions and billions that used to be invested for the growth and benefit of society as a whole in building infrastructure, expanding existing and new businesses and creating jobs

—— Winnipeg Free Press

An utterly absorbing look at how Cohen pushed his traders to the limit—that “black edge”—and how he mostly insulated himself from the potential ramifications. This fast-paced, true-life thriller will leave readers enraptured—and troubled

—— Booklist
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