An Advance Review of Panic

The LA Times' books blog, Jacket Copy, has an advance review of Michael Lewis's upcoming title, Panic: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity, due out in December. Discussing authors who would dare to offer up a book in the current, constantly changing economic climate, Nick Owchar writes:

I wouldn't want to be a financial writer with a book coming out later this year--every pre-plunge-written text about the U.S. economy and its health is going to sound hopelessly dated.

That said, he does praise Lewis's long view approach that "provides some helpful context about how we got here" and the book's "interesting, sometimes unflattering portraits of the various people involved." I would have to believe that if anyone can pull a book off in this moment, Michael Lewis can. And, I personally appreciate books that provide context in heady times, even if they're not able to tell the end of the story. According to the publisher marketing, Lewis's account of the situation goes back to cover "the crash of '87, the Russian default (and the subsequent collapse of Long-Term Capital Management), the Asian currency crisis of 1999, the Internet bubble, and the current sub-prime mortgage disaster." I'm looking forward to seeing a copy arrive here.