Cohan Snubbed

I'm sorry, but how does William Cohan's House of Cards not even make the shortlist for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year 2009 prize? With apologies to Liaquat Ahamed and David Wessel, Cohan's book was hands-down the best business/finance book published in the past year. It's really not even close. Cohan managed to write a detailed, definitive account of one of the most important events in modern financial history (the collapse of Bear Stearns), and he did it in just under a year. That should merit at least a spot on the shortlist.

On a related note, I highly recommend Steven Davidoff's new book, Gods at War: Shotgun Takeovers, Government by Deal, and the Private Equity Implosion. It's terrific. I'll try to write more about the book later too, because I think it contains a couple of very interesting insights.