The Savings & Loan Crisis

INSIDE JOB: The LOOTING OF AMERICA’S SAVINGS AND LOANS. Steve Pizzo et.al., McGraw Hill, 1989.
Also in paperback. Colorful account of the crime and sleeze of the S&L losses.
THE MAFIA, CIA & GEORGE BUSH. Pete Brewton, SPI Books, 1992.
Argues the CIA looted S&Ls to pursue its secret ventures, documents interconnections among top politicians, criminals and bureaucrats. Chilling.
LICENSE TO STEAL. Benjamin J. Stein, Simon & Schuster, 1992.
The ugly truth about Michael Milken and S&Ls.
S&L HELL. Kathleen Day, W.W. Norton, 1993.
Inside the politics of the S&L mess. Good bibliography.
THE GREATEST EVER BANK ROBBERY. Martin Mayer, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1990.
Thorough background, insight into the origins of the S&L situation.
TRICK OR TREASON, THE OCTOBER SURPRISE MYSTERY. Robert Parry, Sheridan Square Press, 1993.
Not about S&Ls but convincingly demonstrates how careerism among today’s journalists has distorted and altered honest reporting. Disturbing book.
THE LAST STAND, THE WAR BETWEEN WALL STREET AND MAIN STREET OVER CALIFORNIA’S ANCIENT REDWOODS. David Harris, Times Books, a division of Random House, 1995.
How Michael Milken and Charles Hurwitz of Maxxam destroyed California forests and lives using S&L money. Gripping.
For an academic analysis of the Savings and Loan debacle and the lessons to be learnt see the books below.
THE S&L DEBACLE: Public policy lessons for bank and thrift regulation. Lawrence J. White. Oxford University Press, 1991.
BIG MONEY CRIME : fraud and politics in the savings and loan crisis. Kitty Calavita, Henry N. Pontell, Robert H. Tillman. Berkeley : University of California, 1999. 263 p. ISBN 0-520-21947-3