Enron Ascending
The Forgotten Years, 1984-1996
1. Auflage September 2018
816 Seiten, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
A great fall cannot be understood apart from the rise that preceded it. Enron Ascending is the only book to date that examines in detail the first two-thirds of that iconic energy company's life. Thus, it is the only book to date that exposes the deepest causes of Enron's stunning collapse. Nobel economist Paul Krugman predicted that history would look upon Enron's plummet as a greater turning point than the fall of the Twin Towers.
Enron Ascending explains the shock of the company's fall by recalling the astounding achievements of Enron's birth, childhood, adolescence, and early maturity. It sets forth the once-celebrated but now-forgotten industry and innovation that caused the company and its reputation to soar stratospherically. At the same time, always conscious of the company's fate, the book highlights throughout the developing habits of thought and behavior that later evolved into self-destructive acts of desperation and deceit.
Written fifteen years after the firm's demise, Enron Ascending offers the long perspective of a uniquely positioned insider, Robert L. Bradley, Jr., the company's director of public-policy analysis and Chairman Ken Lay's personal speechwriter. The book also offers a library of previously unavailable information, drawn from Bradley's innumerable corporate documents and unrepeatable interviews, which he collected in his capacity as the company's prospective historian.
Most important, however, Enron Ascending offers an antidote to the unending stories, studies, and books about Enron that are presented as just-the-facts but are in reality shaped decisively by the worldview of their authors. Bradley shows, beyond dispute, that the early habits which set precedents for Enron's history-making demise were directly contrary to the free-market behaviors and capitalist attitudes generally blamed for Enron's fall.
Part I : From HNG to Enron: 1984-1987
CHAPTER 1 The New Houston Natural Gas (Pages: 67-104)
CHAPTER 2 HNG/InterNorth (Pages: 105-146)
CHAPTER 3 Foundations (Pages: 147-182)
Part II : Peril and Progress: 1987-1989
CHAPTER 4 Crisis at Enron Oil Corporation: 1987 (Pages: 183-207)
CHAPTER 5 Recovery: 1988-1989 (Pages: 209-248)
Part III : Natural Gas, Natural Politics: 1990-1993
CHAPTER 6 Natural Gas Majoring (Pages: 249-305)
CHAPTER 7 Political Lay (Pages: 307-345)
Part IV : Jeff Skilling
CHAPTER 8 Gas Marketing: 1990-1991 (Pages: 347-384)
CHAPTER 9 Expanding Gas Marketing: 1992-1993 (Pages: 385-422)
Part V : Expanding Enron: 1994-1996
CHAPTER 10 The Steady Side (Pages: 423-460)
CHAPTER 11 Enron Capital & Trade Resources (Pages: 461-488)
CHAPTER 12 International Ambitions (Pages: 489-515)
Part VI : Restless Enron: 1994-1996
CHAPTER 13 Alternative Energies (Pages: 517-561)
CHAPTER 14 Visionary Enron (Pages: 563-587)
CHAPTER 15 Energy Retailing (Pages: 589-640)
Epilogue: Dangerous Ambitions (Pages: 641-675)
Kenneth L. Lay: A Chronology (Pages: 677-688)
Selected Bibliography (Pages: 689-718)
Illustration Credits (Pages: 719-720)
Name Index (Pages: 721-786)
--Tyler Cowen
"There is only one reason to read another book on Enron: the author offers a more complete and authoritative account of the run-up to Enron's collapse than that offered by others, and in doing so invites a deeper consideration of the meaning of the Enron story."
--Malcolm Salter