Tearing Down the Walls tells the riveting inside story of how a Jewish boy from Brooklyn's back alleys overcame incredible odds and deep-seated prejudices to transform the financial-services industry as we know it today.

Using nearly five hundred firsthand interviews with key players in Weill's life and career — including Weill himself — Langley brilliantly chronicles not only his success and scandals but also the shadows of his hidden self: his father's abandonment and his loving marriage; his tyrannical rages as well as his tearful regrets; his fierce sense of loyalty and his ruthless elimination of potential rivals. By highlighting in new and startling detail one man's life in a narrative as richly textured and compelling as a novel, Tearing Down the Walls provides the historical context of the dramatic changes not only in business but also in American society in the last half century.

[A] richly reported recent history of Wall Street and corporate America told through an oversize personality.

A riveting narrative.

A rollicking biography.

A well-written, fast-paced read that does the best job yet of explaining who Weill is.

Cast of Characters

Prologue

1. Crashing the Gates

2. Corned Beef With Lettuce

3. Into the WASP Nest

4. Exile on Park Avenue

5. Rip Van Winkle Inc.

6. Backwater Mogul

7. Branching Out

8. Fast Jets, Golden Parachutes

9. A Splendid Balance

10. Homecoming

11. The Red Umbrella

12. Choices

13. The Mother of All Deals

14. The Hydra-Headed Monster

15. Stalemate

16. Showdown

17. Seeds of Destruction

18. Blindsided

19. Taking Command

A Note on Sources

Acknowledgments

Index