Resurrecting the Street: Overcoming the Greatest Operational Crisis in History by Jeff Ingber

“We were scrambling like crazy and focused on getting back downtown. I had my futures people sneak through the police lines. I don’t know how they did it.” ~Watts Interview by Jeff Ingber

I Learned, I Cried, I Felt Proud, Awed and Haunted.  Couldn’t Put it Down
Review by Amber Young

Who doesn’t remember what they were doing  the morning of September 11, 2001? It started out as a normal morning, just like for most of us, right? Get up, get coffee…

Will always remember exactly what I was doing during the attack of the first Twin Tower—was tending to my son. Little did I know, while carefully folding my son’s diaper around his little body, a financial crisis of the likes never told before was unfolding.

That very day created heroes; heroes who saved people. Heroes who ran into buildings others were running from. And, then there were heroes who saved two major parts of the economy: The Stock Market and the federal government securities markets known as Govie Markets.

Resurrecting the Street by Jeff Ingber is about the days immediately following 9/11 and how the stock market and govie markets recovered in a miraculous amount of time. Literally, within days.

The way the stock market works has always been a foreign language to me, but this book helped me learn about how it evolved over time and how it came to be what it is today. Ingber goes back to the days of when the stock market was first formed and who, what, where, why, and how of it.

Ingber explains the whole inner workings of all the markets, the banks, and all the people who run the show.  He definitely knows his stuff.

For Example, Learned

Citigroup was created as a result of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (also known as the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999), which had broken the barriers between commercial and investment banking. Salomon Brothers soon became a part of Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Usually, learning about economics and financial institutions is mind-numbing. Good fodder for insomnia, yet Ingber’s way of sharing, educating and reporting is fascinating. So much so, I couldn’t put the book down. The book is filled interesting and factual information. Came away with an understanding of how the stock market works, the laws, and who really runs the financial sector.

The book is done with ‘real’ reporting, it’s factual–not dressed up as an editorial mimicking reporting. You can easily look up the items he shares and references and resources are also included, so you can do your own investigation.

What You’ll Need to Read Resurrecting the Street

Bookmarkers: The way Ingber wrote the book is a little different. There are references to the back of the book all the way through by chapter, which at first was confusing because there are so many of them. He does organize it-there’s just a lot of them and it doesn’t help that the pages are not numbered so you might want to have a bookmark handy because in order to find your spot you need to read a couple paragraphs to figure out which page you were on.

Tissue: Ingber interviewed over 100 people who were survivors of 9/11 and includes quotes from them in the book. Their words and stories are haunting and poignant. Be prepared to cry.

In the interviews, most talked of the day the tradgedy happened and what they saw. The fear and horror that they felt is impactful; raw.

Think of it, to be sitting in an office like every other day doing your job and suddenly seeing huge fireballs out your window, coming at you; black smoke everywhere and people jumping from the building next to you. Feeling the rumbling of the tower and thinking what the hell? And, of all the children who were in the building that day on field trips…

Knowing you’re going to die and watching your friends and co-workers die right in front of you, but for some reason you get to live and wonder why them and not me? And, what these people have to live the rest of their life with, you know?

Bringing 9/11 to present day, choosing a quote strongly agreed with is what one man Ingber interviewed said.

“I’m more cynical now…people selling cheap mementos. That angers me to no end. The commercialization of that. It wasn’t a NASCAR race.” ~9/11 Victim

Footnote from the Publisher: The events of 9/11 presented the financial industry with the greatest operational crisis in its history. Every major market was closed.  A significant amount of critical infrastructure was destroyed. Key officials were killed; others could not be located. Massive amounts of critical data were lost, and there was a crushing inability to communicate, locate or verify information.

With the anniversary of 9/11 looming, Jeff Ingber has released a newly updated edition of his ground-breaking book Resurrecting the Street.  This book has been hailed as a gripping and detailed analysis of how the financial industry recovered, which required the willpower, wisdom, and unprecedented cooperation among fierce competitors.

Perfect for history buffs, those memorializing the 9/11 anniversary, and those looking for a deeper understanding of operational crisis management.

Resurrecting the Street will be free between September 7th  and September 11th, 2012