House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street is a 2009 book written by William D. Cohan

William D. Cohan

William D. Cohan is a contributing editor at Fortune, and award-winning former investigative newspaper reporter based in Raleigh, North Carolina, who worked on Wall Street for seventeen years. He spent six years at Lazard Frères in New York and later became a managing director at JP Morgan Chase....

. It chronicles the history of Bear Stearns

Bear Stearns

The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. based in New York City, was a global investment bank and securities trading and brokerage, until its sale to JPMorgan Chase in 2008 during the global financial crisis and recession...

, from its founding in 1923 to its fire sale

Fire sale

A fire sale is the sale of goods at extremely discounted prices, typically when the seller faces bankruptcy or other impending distress. The term may originally have been based on the sale of goods at a heavy discount due to fire damage...

 to JP Morgan in 2008, following the subprime mortgage crisis

Subprime mortgage crisis

The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis was one of the first indicators of the late-2000s financial crisis, characterized by a rise in subprime mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures, and the resulting decline of securities backed by said mortgages....

. It also gives the reader an inside glance of Bear Stearns senior management and the company's growth into the fifth largest investment firm, before its collapse by Salim Lewis

Salim L. Lewis

Salim L. "Cy" Lewis was the Managing Partner of Bear, Stearns & Company, running the company from 1949 until shortly before his death in 1978.-Early life:...

.

It documents the rise of Alan "Ace" Greenberg

Alan Greenberg

Alan C. "Ace" Greenberg is a former Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc.He began work at Bear Stearns in 1949 as a clerk. He served as Chairman of the Board of Bear Stearns from 1985 to 2001, and as its CEO from 1978 to 1993. Greenberg serves also as a...

, and his unsuccessful power struggle with bridgemaster

Master Individual

The Master Individual national bridge championship was held at the fall American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship .-History:...

 & bond trader James Cayne

James Cayne

James E. "Jimmy" Cayne is an American businessman, a former CEO of Bear Stearns, founder of TalkGeek.org and world-class bridge player. After losing about one billion dollars in net worth from the collapse of Bear Stearns' stock, he sold his entire stake in the company for $61 million...

, the power struggle between "co-presidents" Warren J. Spector & Alan Schwartz

Alan Schwartz

Alan D. Schwartz is an executive chairman of Guggenheim Partners, LLC, an investment banking firm based in Chicago and New York. He was the last CEO Bear Stearns before its acquisition by JPMorgan Chase & Co., having succeeded James E. Cayne who remained chairman.-History at Bear Stearns:Alan...

, and the recklessness of the over-leveraged hedge fund

Hedge fund

A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...

 supervised by Richard A. Marin

Richard Marin (investment banker)

Richard A. Marin was an American investment banker at the former New York investment bank Bear Stearns. He was ousted from his position as the head of asset management twenty-four hours after his blog was publicized. The connection between the two events has not been confirmed.Richard Marin...

 & Ralph R. Cioffi.

The book was on the long list

Short list

A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates . The length of short lists varies according to the context.-U.S...

 for the 2009 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award

Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award

Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best business book of the year as determined by the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs. It aims to find the book that has ‘the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues.’ The...

. Tim Rutten

Tim Rutten

Tim Rutten is an American journalist who worked for the Los Angeles Times between 1971 and 2011.He started at the paper as a copy editor in the View section. Before becoming a columnist for the Calendar section in 2002, he held a number of positions, including city bureau chief and editorial writer...

characterized the book as a "masterfully reported account", and credited the author with a "remarkable gift for plain-spoken explanation."