Andrew Ross Sorkin talks about newly released book

The New York Times chief mergers and acquisitions reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin spoke at the University on Dec. 2 about his new book "Too Big to Fail."

"Too Big to Fail," is a behind the scenes account of what happened during the financial crisis, the men and women involved and how they dealt with the crisis.

Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer of the University, Rick Whitfield, introduced Sorkin at the event.‘'Too Big to Fail' is a must read," Whitfield said.

Sorkin spoke about the process of writing his book. He stated the book idea started on Sept. 15, 2008 which is the date Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. He interviewed over 350 people for the book, but only included in his book interviews that were on the record.

"The book only scratched the surface of what was happening," Sorkin said.

Sorkin stated that the book is structured like the movie Crash. He wrote about Lehman Brothers, AIG, J.P. Morgan, the government and many others in his book separately yet they all intertwine with each other. He also stated that he wanted people to come to their own conclusions about the book and did not want to make the book too judgmental.

"We knew we were going to be moving to a very bad place," Sorkin stated about the financial crisis. He also stated that a lot of the financial firms knew it was going to happen.

After speaking about his book, Sorkin took questions from the audience. During the Q&A Sorkin stated, "The system needed to be saved" and that "the biggest mistake was letting Lehman Brothers fail."

Sorkin also stated about those responsible for the financial crisis, "The same group of people who put us in this position tried to fix it."

Books were available for people to buy after the event for Sorkin to sign.
Sorkin has been a reporter for The New York Times since 1995 and is also the editor of DealBook, which is an online daily financial news report that he created in 2001.