This is the story of Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller, the two reporters who led the Wall Street Journal's reporting on Enron and uncovered the unorthodox partnerships at the heart of the scandal through skill, luck, and relentless determination.

It all started in August 2001when Emshwiller was assigned to write a supposedly simple article on the unexpected resignation of Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. During his research, Emshwiller uncovered a buried reference to an off-balance-sheet partnership called LJM. Little did he know, this was the start of a fast and furious ride through the remarkable downfall of a once highly-prized company.

Written in an intense, fast paced narrative style, 24 Days tells the gripping story of the colossal collapse of what would become the world's most notorious corporation. The reader follows along as Smith and Emshwiller continue to uncover new partnerships and self-dealing among the highest levels of Enron's management. As they publish articles detailing their findings in the Journal, Wall Street and individual investors have a crisis of confidence and start selling Enron stock at unprecedented levels of volume. In the end - 24 short days later - Enron had completely collapsed, erasing 16 years of growth and losing $19 billion in market value while watching the stock drop from $33.84 to $8.41. Not only was the company destroyed, but investors and retired employees were completely wiped out-all the while Enron executives were collecting millions of dollars.

Climaxing with this 24-day period, this book shows the reporter's-eye view of a David-and-Goliath battle between journalists and a giant corporation. Each day a new story uncovered another fact; each day the company issued denials. And when the investigative stories reached critical mass and momentum, the stock market cast its final vote of no confidence. In the tradition of Indecent Exposure and Barbarians at the Gate, two other gripping narratives that began as a series of Wall Street Journal stories and ended up as books that defined an era, 24 Days brings the importance of great investigative journalism to life.

On October 16, 2001, the Wall Street Journal published the first in a series of articles on the shady financial dealings of the Enron Corporation. In this accessible narrative first published in 2003, investigative journalists Smith and Emshwiller describe how they managed to break through Enron's stonewalling over the course of less than a month and expose its inner workings to the public. This paperback edition has been updated with a new prologue by the authors.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

On October 16, 2001, the Wall Street Journal published the first in a series of articles on the shady financial dealings of the Enron Corporation. In this accessible narrative first published in 2003, investigative journalists Smith and Emshwiller describe how they managed to break through Enron's stonewalling over the course of less than a month and expose its inner workings to the public. This paperback edition has been updated with a new prologue by the authors. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This is the story of Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller, the two reporters who led the Wall Street Journal’ s reporting on Enron and uncovered the unorthodox partnerships at the heart of the scandal through skill, luck, and relentless determination.

It all started in August 2001when Emshwiller was assigned to write a supposedly simple article on the unexpected resignation of Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. During his research, Emshwiller uncovered a buried reference to an off-balance-sheet partnership called LJM. Little did he know, this was the start of a fast and furious ride through the remarkable downfall of a once highly-prized company.

Written in an intense, fast paced narrative style, 24 Days tells the gripping story of the colossal collapse of what would become the world’ s most notorious corporation. The reader follows along as Smith and Emshwiller continue to uncover new partnerships and self-dealing among the highest levels of Enron’ s management. As they publish articles detailing their findings in the Journal, Wall Street and individual investors have a crisis of confidence and start selling Enron stock at unprecedented levels of volume. In the end - 24 short days later - Enron had completely collapsed, erasing 16 years of growth and losing $19 billion in market value while watching the stock drop from $33.84 to $8.41. Not only was the company destroyed, but investors and retired employees were completely wiped out-all the while Enron executives were collecting millions of dollars.

Climaxing with this 24-day period, this book shows the reporter’ s-eye view of a David-and-Goliath battle between journalists and a giant corporation. Each day anew story uncovered another fact; each day the company issued denials. And when the investigative stories reached critical mass and momentum, the stock market cast its final vote of no confidence. In the tradition of Indecent Exposure and Barbarians at the Gate, two other gripping narratives that began as a series of Wall Street Journal stories and ended up as books that defined an era, 24 Days brings the importance of great investigative journalism to life.

Written in a gripping, fast-paced narrative style, 24 Days is a riveting reporter's eye view of the investigative process — often unpredictable, but driven by the journalists' commitment to the facts and the true story. Smith and Emshwiller broke through Enron's stonewalling and exposed its inner workings,setting in motion a chain of events that shook the public's trust in big business, Wall Street, and the accounting profession.

Updated here with a new prologue and a new chapter by Smith and Emshwiller, 24 Days defines an era and brings great investigative journalism to vivid life as it tells the riveting story of the colossal collapse of what has become the world's most notorious corporation.

Rebecca Smith is a national energy reporter in the Los Angeles bureau of the Wall Street Journal. In 2001 she won the Gerald Loeb Award for beat reporting for her energy coverage. In 1996, she shared a Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished financial and economics reporting.