Slim volume lets titans of high finance off easy

The core of William D Cohan's thesis is that Wall Street is misunderstood

JPMorgan Chase: the Wall Street giants feel they are under assault by regulators

Finance: Why Wall Street Matters, By William D Cohan, Allen Lane, €23

There are few more stylish writers working on modern finance than William D Cohan, the New York Times columnist and Vanity Fair special correspondent. His books on finance houses have put him on a similar level to Michael Lewis (of The Big Short fame) as a chronicler of excess, hubris, collapse and commerce. Few writers have recognised as capably or realised ...