The Money Machine: How KKR Manufactured Power and Profits

In 1975 two cousins, from Texas and Oklahoma, started out with $120,000. By 1989 they had persuaded banks, pension funds and insurance companies to lend them over $58 billion to buy 36 companies employing hundreds of thousands of people. In this expose, a "New York Times" reporter chronicles the rise of Henry Kravis and George Roberts, documenting a history of ambition, excessive fees and strategic "gifts" to bankers, public officials, pressmen and others. The book presents an indictment of a Wall Street money machine spinning wildly out of control, and a description of how it uses its power to influence the economy, the markets, and America's free press.