Bank CEO recommends these 17 books for interns who want to know about Wall Street

Jefferies CEO Rich Handler with the bank's summer interns in New York. (Instagram/ HandlerRich)
Jefferies CEO Rich Handler with the bank’s summer interns in New York. (Instagram/ HandlerRich)

Rich Handler, the CEO of investment bank Jefferies and its parent company Leucadia National (LUK), circulated a list to summer interns of recommended books for those who are interested in pursuing careers on Wall Street.

Yahoo Finance obtained a copy of the memo:

To Our Jefferies Summer Interns Around the World:

We are pleased to have had the opportunity to meet virtually all our New York-based interns this year. Several of you asked for some book ideas to understand the history and evolution of Wall Street, as well as background on the financial services industry. Below is a short list of books that collectively could provide some good grounding regarding the business you are considering joining.

This is not intended to be the all-encompassing — the field is rich with excellent technical and narrative works — but rather to provide you with some of the history that is so important to understanding our individual jobs, our industry, and Jefferies’ unique place and opportunity. This list may seem a little longer than short, and you shouldn’t feel any obligation to read them all or any number of them.

We hope that you are concluding a productive and enjoyable summer at Jefferies, and thank you for all your effort and commitment.

Best wishes for a wonderful next year back at school,

Rich and Brian

A Wall Street Bibliography

The Birth And Development of Wall Street

The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance — Ron Chernow

The House of Rothschild: The World’s Banker, 1849-1999 — Niall Ferguson

The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street’s Bullish 60s — John Brooks

The 1980s

Liar’s Poker — Michael Lewis

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco — Bryan Burrough and John Helyar

Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman — Ken Auletta

Buyouts and Hedge Funds

When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management — Roger Lowenstein

New Financial Capitalists: KKR and the Creation of Corporate Value — David Smith and George Baker

More Money than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite — Sebastian Mallaby

The 2008 Financial Crisis

Too Big To Fail: Inside the Battle to Save Wall Street — Andrew Ross Sorkin

The End of Wall Street — Roger Lowenstein

The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy — Mervyn King

Investing

The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel — Benjamin Graham

The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life — Alice Schroeder

The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success — William Thorndike, Jr.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street — Burton Malkiel

The Richest Man in Babylon — George Samuel Clason


Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.

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