The Square and the Tower

Feb 5, 2025 4:41 AM

Author:Niall Ferguson,John Sackville

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Square and the Tower by Niall Ferguson, read by John Sackville.

Most history is hierarchical: it's about popes, presidents, and prime ministers. But what if that's simply because they create the historical archives? What if we are missing equally powerful but less visible networks - leaving them to the conspiracy theorists, with their dreams of all-powerful Illuminati?

The twenty-first century has been hailed as the Networked Age. But in The Square and the Tower Niall Ferguson argues that social networks are nothing new. From the printers and preachers who made the Reformation to the freemasons who led the American Revolution, it was the networkers who disrupted the old order of popes and kings. Far from being novel, our era is the Second Networked Age, with the computer in the role of the printing press. But networks have a dark side, prone to clustering, contagions, and even outages. And the conflicts of the past already have unnerving parallels today, in the time of Facebook, Islamic State and Trumpworld.

Audio updated as of December 2017.

Reviews

Anyone with an interest in financial services and in what has gone wrong will find The Spider Network compelling.

—— Daniel Finkelstein , The Times

a surprisingly human narrative … truly memorable … a vivid depiction of the ethos of the core financial institutions upon which the global economy depends

—— New York Times

a model of investigative financial writing... a more satisfying read than THE BIG SHORT by Michael Lewis

—— Literary Review

will snare you in its web of deceit, lies, corruption, manipulation and colourful characters. [a] brilliant investigative exposé

—— Harlan Coben, bestselling thriller author

supremely gripping ... a thrilling tour de force of reporting, revelation and reasoning ... unmissable

—— Iain Martin, bestselling author of MAKING IT HAPPEN: FRED GOODWIN, RBS AND THE MEN WHO BLEW UP THE BRITISH ECONOMY

An incredibly entertaining, globe-straddling inside account of how one trader turbocharged a greedy cabal that scammed savers and borrowers everywhere. A must read if you want to understand how big banks and traders really work

—— Marcus Brauchli, former Executive Editor of the Washington Post and Managing Editor of the Wall Street Journal

Equally entertaining and illuminating … Enrich’s brilliant depiction … owes to deep reporting, deft writing, and a nuanced approach that characterizes the entire book… First-rate.

—— John Helyar, bestselling author of BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

how did a socially awkward English math whiz mastermind manipulation of lending rates on a global scale? And was Tom Hayes truly the mastermind, or just a cog in a corrupt banking system? In David Enrich’s gripping tale, the characters have nicknames worthy of the Mafia, and their ethical compasses aren't much better

—— Paul Ingrassia, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of CRASH COURSE

gripping and disturbing ... It reads like a thriller and has some hilarious moments, whilst raising important questions about the nature of our financial and judicial systems

—— Ian Fraser, journalist and author of SHREDDED: INSIDE RBS, THE BANK THAT BROKE BRITAIN

David Enrich is a masterful story teller ... Michael Lewis has a new rival

—— Sheila Bair, former chair of the FDIC and president of Washington College

An absorbing read that provides both a meticulous dissection of an immense scandal as well as a fascinating human story

—— Bethany McLean, bestselling author of THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM: THE AMAZING RISE AND SCANDALOUS FALL OF ENRON

For years, David Enrich has chased down the inside story of one the biggest financial frauds in history and was even threatened with jail by a British court if he printed what he knew. Now, in his blockbuster book The Spider Network, all of the secrets come spilling out…With an unerring eye for detail, Enrich shows in this masterful work how a toxic stew of greed, arrogance and a lust for power led to a criminal scheme of unparalleled dimensions. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to understand the dirty underbelly of the financial world.

—— Kurt Eichenwald, Pulitzer Prize winning author of THE INFORMANT

This dwarfs by orders of magnitude any financial scams in the history of markets.

—— Andrew Lo, Professor of Finance at MIT

In the hands of journalist David Enrich, the true tale of former UBS and Citigroup trader Tom Hayes becomes a page-turning crime drama that engages – and educates – readers from beginning to end.

—— The Charlotte Observer

A gripping narrative ... impressive reporting and writing chops are on full display ... reads like a fast-paced John le Carré thriller, and never lets up

—— New York Times book review

a feat of reporting, and much of it reads like a novel

—— Leigh Gallagher , Washington Post

a remarkable read

—— John Arlidge , Sunday Times

jaw-dropping

—— Financial Times

a gripping financial thriller

—— Daily Mail

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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