The Bond King

“Well written… a deeply researched book about one of those money men who made a fortune and lost it all and changed finance but not for the better.” –Roxane Gay

“A perfect book… brilliant, chef’s kiss! It’s hilarious, tragic, witty, bright, smart, inspiring, devastating, and complete! Filled the Succession-size hole in my heart.” –Kaleb Nygaard, Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation.

“This is an essential and enraging book, and it’s also a page-turner, even if you have a literary website editor’s knowledge of the financial world. It’s also very funny.” –Jessie Gaynor, LitHub

”[Childs’s] book The Bond King isn’t just the story of Bill Gross. It’s about the expansion of finance to its current form, where experts rule and the little guy can’t win.” –The New York Times

“Who the heck reads a book thrice in two months? I did. Mary Childs’s The Bond King is a page-turner–about treacherous … credit wonks” –Roben Farzad, host of public radio’s Full Disclosure

“It’s amazingly good. It cuts through all the mind-numbing jargon of the finance world to provide an accessible and illuminating look at the rise of the multitrillion-dollar bond market. It’s beautifully written. It’s meticulously researched and reported. It’s eye opening. And it centers on a fascinating and entertaining character whose journey takes us right to the heart of the story of high finance over the last half century.” –Planet Money

“It has been a long time since I devoured a book as just assiduously as this… I was completely gripped and I loved it. –Felix Salmon, Slate Money podcast

“Entertaining… . [Childs] is a keen observer… . She ably describes the mechanics of the mortgage futures market… . A galloping narrative.” –Wall Street Journal

”[T]he award-winning financial journalist Mary Childs paints a vivid picture of how it all began and unraveled for the man credited with turning a once sleepy and low-risk corner of finance into an exciting casino.” –Insider

“Admirably thorough.” –James B. Stewart, New York Times

”[A] vivid tale of the bond manager and his empire.” –Niel Irwin, Axios

“A vivid and authoritative portrait of one of the most influential figures in American finance.” –Sheelah Kolhatkar, bestselling author of Black Edge

“An instant classic of finance and a joy to read. Mary Childs has a gift for explaining the rise of the modern bond market, one of the most important stories of finance, and interlaces that story with the deeply reported, thrilling, tragic and occasionally comic human story of the downfall of Bill Gross. And it is all written with great style, wit and insight. Anyone looking to understand the nuances of bonds or the difficulties of managing complicated people should read this book.” –Matt Levine, ‘Money Stuff’ columnist, Bloomberg Opinion

“A most necessary book. Mary Childs is one of a handful of finance writers who understand how the industry has reshaped America and helped create the strange, often failing society we inhabit. And one cannot understand modern finance without understanding the character of the mad bond king Bill Gross. Well-researched and written with verve, this is nothing short of a page-turner.” –Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends and Lake Success

“The Bond King details the intractable brilliance of Bill Gross that enabled him to build a bond empire but also kindled his own demise. The book navigates into some of the “colorful” corners of Gross’ recent years (including his acrimonious divorce and Hatfield’s vs. McCoy-like feud with his neighbor), but, importantly, it emphasizes practitioner-level insights into the markets he once dominated. The book could have been salacious, but to [Childs’] credit, it remains serious and insightful.” –Mike Terwilliger, BC Partners Credit

Mary Childs (she/her) is a co-host and correspondent for NPR’s Planet Money podcast. Previously she was a reporter at Barron’s magazine, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg News. She has written about the pioneering of new asset classes like time, billionaire’s proposals to solve inequality, and diversity and discrimination in the finance industry. She graduated from Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, with a degree in business journalism.

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