There is probably no figure in recent financial history who typifies the culmination of 1980s madness more than Michael Milken, king of the junk bonds. He was the inventor of the $300 billion market in high-risk, high-return securities that transformed the face of Wall Street. His dramatic downfall with a conviction for securities fraud and a 10 year prison sentence is the stuff of fiction This is a detailed and balanced account of recent American capitalism which puts Milken and his contemporaries onto their proper historical perspective, as successors to Charles Merrill, Louis Wolfson, James Ling and T. Boone Pickens. Through historical recreation, direct access to key players in the story, and his thorough research, Sobel has produced a book which explores both the good and the bad effects of the junk bond/LBO era and its future impact on Wall Street and American business.