December 1, 2002
A couple of short years ago, CEOs gracing the covers of magazines were hailed as heroes, as investors riding the wave of the "new economy." Today, if a CEO makes the cover of a magazine, it's likely for a different reason: business news is now dominated by stories of corporate fraud. Surowiecki, business writer for the " New Yorker," has mined 27 columns from disparate periodicals, chronicling this fall from grace. The biggest scandals, such as the Enron and WorldCom debacles, are covered from several different perspectives, but there's also a dearth of shame revealed about ImClone, Tyco, Qwest, Adelphia, and other less well known names. Although it would be difficult to cite the numerous examples of fine investigative journalism here, the tenor of these articles can be summed up in a piece written by David Wessell for the " Wall Street Journal" entitled "What's Wrong," which reveals why the system continues to fail to prevent corporate leaders from cheating for their own gain.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)