The cynical view of the financial world says that Wall Street is run by a special breed of traders who exploit investors’ collective fear and greed to enrich themselves however they can, without any care for the havoc they might wreak. In Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis backs up this opinion with a first-hand account of the pursuit of ill-gotten riches at the Salomon Brothers investment firm during the 1980s. As a Salomon employee, Lewis took part in its wealth-chasing culture and witnessed the start of its downward spiral.

This guide will explore Lewis’s portrayal of Wall Street, the boom and bust of the mortgage bond market, and the rise of junk bond investments. We’ll also take a broader look at the financial world and alternate views showing there’s room for ethics and level-headed investing. We’ll conclude with Salomon Brothers’ troubles in the 1990s, which occurred after this book’s publication.