Bookshop / 02Reported nonfiction · 1991

The numbers have names.

Den of Thieves

James B. Stewart

People, deals, and investigations. A reported history of Wall Street in the 1980s.

A place to begin
An imagined midnight skyline beyond reflective glass, with pale financial papers and a restrained glint of gold in the foreground.
Paper trail / Midnight studyOriginal AI-generated editorial artwork. An imagined atmosphere.

01 / Before you open it

A spoiler-light introduction.

Start with the people.

Den of Thieves follows the 1980s Wall Street insider-trading investigations through financiers and the people pursuing them. Stewart draws on interviews, trading records and grand-jury material. Begin with the people rather than the jargon: who knows something, who can act on it, and who is willing to ask how the advantage was obtained.

Read it as reported history. Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel, and Dennis Levine are among the central figures; the relationships are a useful foothold before the financial vocabulary. Stewart shared the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism with Daniel Hertzberg for their Wall Street Journal reporting. That award recognized the reporting, not this book.

Grounding: Simon & Schuster — Den of Thieves, trade paperbackColumbia Journalism School — James StewartThe Pulitzer Prizes — Daniel Hertzberg and James B. Stewart

First published
1991
Form
Reported nonfiction
Original language
English
Translator
Not applicable

02 / The copy desk

Choose how to read.

New, used, or borrowed.
The book is the destination.

These are edition guides and links to outside sellers and libraries. Providers set prices, stock, condition, and lending terms. Bibliographic details and routes checked ; availability can change.

All 3 copy guides shown.

01

The reading copy

Trade paperback

Choose print for margin notes and returning to the people and transactions as you read. The current publisher listing verifies this paperback's format and length; it does not advertise special supplementary material.

Format
Trade paperback
Publisher / provider
Simon & Schuster
ISBN
9780671792275
Edition date
1992-09-01
Length
592 pages

Supplementary material and individual copy condition are not verified. A later format date does not establish a revision.

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Compare used copies

Compare edition, condition, and delivery details with each seller.

Find print at a library

WorldCat record is the 1991 English print publication, not a verification of this paperback's local holdings. Ask your library for ISBN 9780671792275 or a suitable print edition.

02

The portable copy

Ebook

Choose digital reading when portability matters. The publisher identifies this ebook; the Los Angeles Public Library catalog independently matches its ISBN and lists EPUB and OverDrive Read formats.

Format
Ebook
Publisher / provider
Simon & Schuster
ISBN
9781439126202
Edition date
2012-11-20
Length
592 pages

The checked library record matches this ebook ISBN. Retail device compatibility, library eligibility, holdings, and waits remain provider-specific.

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Check library ebook

A Los Angeles Public Library ebook route. A qualifying card and a licensed copy are required; ask your own library about access.

03

The listening copy

Unabridged audio

Choose Johnny Heller's unabridged narration when you want to listen to the complete book. The publisher also lists a separate abridged audio edition, so check the word 'unabridged' when choosing.

Format
Unabridged audio download
Publisher / provider
Simon & Schuster Audio
ISBN
9781442369566
Edition date
2013-09-17
Length
19 hours 35 minutes

Narrated by Johnny Heller. Audio-specific library holdings and retailer device compatibility are not verified. No used digital route is offered.

View bibliographic source

The WorldCat print record is the 1991 English publication, not a confirmation of this paperback’s local holdings. Ask your library for the title and author, or ISBN 9780671792275. The checked LAPL ebook record matches ISBN 9781439126202. Libraries set card eligibility, reservations, and interlibrary-loan rules.

03 / Reading pathways

Make it your own reading.

A / First encounter

Keep a list of names.

Begin with the introduction, choose a format, and keep a small list of people and institutions. Add connections as the narrative makes them clear.

Choose your copy

B / Alongside the book

Read the reporting.

Follow one transaction: who has information, who acts on it, and who asks questions? Return to the book’s documentation to distinguish an attributed account from your own inference.

Meet the reporter

C / After finishing

Compare your readings.

Choose one question about incentives and one about the craft of reporting. Discuss the same passage in the edition each person is using, rather than assuming pagination matches.

Open the optional guide

04 / Keep going

After a few chapters.

Optional deeper reading.
Open when you are ready.

The book’s investigation and consequences are part of its discovery. Keep the panels below closed until you want to discuss how the story is told and what it asks of a reader.

Deeper themes · may reveal developmentsLook beneath the story.

Discussion below may reveal narrative developments. These are PointCast’s original reading prompts, not the author’s stated interpretation.

Information and advantage

Trace how knowledge passes between people and institutions. Consider how small choices accumulate into a system.

Status and rationalisation

Look for the explanations people give themselves, and for the social rewards that make those explanations easier to believe.

Investigation as narrative

Notice how the reporter controls sequence, access and perspective. Ask what changes when an event is revisited from another participant's position.

Reading group · discussion spoilersBring it to the table.

Save these questions for a reading group or for after you finish. They ask about the work as a whole.

  1. Choose one transaction. Who knew what, at what moment, and how did that knowledge change the choices available to others?
  2. Where does the book show ambition turning into an excuse? Which details make that transition persuasive to you?
  3. How do friendships, professional loyalties and the desire for status affect decisions on both sides of the investigation?
  4. Compare a deal-making passage with an investigative passage. How does Stewart change pace, perspective or the kind of evidence he presents?
  5. Which turning point depends most on an individual decision, and which depends on an institution? Would a different choice have altered the chain of events?
  6. After the consequences arrive, what questions remain about responsibility, market trust and the reader's ability to judge a reported account?

05 / Sources & small print

Follow the evidence.
Keep the artwork in view.

A shelf with its sources.

Summary, pathways, and discussion prompts are original editorial copy. This modern work is offered through publisher, bookseller, and licensed-library routes; no public-domain full text is claimed. The bookshop discusses historical reporting and does not state current securities law or offer investment advice.

The artwork is an original AI-generated editorial interpretation made for this PointCast page. It is not a publisher’s cover, archival photograph, or image by the author. No book text is reproduced here.

Edition and source metadata

Artwork provenance