Bernie Madoff claims another victim

Ghostwriters do more than simply make sure that the story gets written and that the grammar is right. If you want to see the value of a ghostwriter, read No One Would Listen by Harry Markopolos, the man who blew the whistle no one heard on Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion scandal. The book, which I reviewed in Asia Times, details how Markopolos uncovered the scandal and tried, yet failed, to expose it. The book reveals, above all, how thoroughly despicable Madoff and his conduct were.

Markopolos tells the story in his own words, animated by disgust for Madoff and the US Securities and Exchange Commission that ignored Markopolos’ repeated attempts to stop Madoff, and apparently without the aid of a ghostwriter. Markopolos, who is undoubtedly an honorable man and by all rights ought to be seen as a hero, is portrayed as such an unsympathetic figure, driven over the edge by the pursuit of Madoff, his white whale, that only Markopolos himself could have written it that way.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.

The Next Asia: banker’s book doesn’t add up

Stephen Roach was one of the big shots on Wall Street for decades before moving to Hong Kong to head investment bank Morgan Stanley’s Asian operations. Lauded as a “thought leader” in the finance world, Roach’s book The Next Asia demonstrates how little thought it takes to win that accolade. Roach doesn’t have much to say about Asia that you haven’t heard before, but the book is instructive as an illustration of the arrogance that crashed the global economy and believes those same bankers deserve seven figure bonuses so they can try again.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, financial crisis, and cheap lingerie.