Wall Street’s Near-Death Experience

With the implosion of Lehman Brothers, in September 2008, the realisation dawned: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs could be next.

In this excerpt from his new book, Too Big to Fail: Inside the Battle to Save Wall Street, Andrew Ross Sorkin reveals the incredible scramble that took place—desperate phone calls, seat-of-the-pants merger proposals, flaring tempers—as Washington got tough and Wall Street titans Lloyd Blankfein and John Mack fought for survival - http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2009/11/too-big-to-fail-excerpt-200911