Mozilo is hardly a scapegoat, but his misdeeds, as real as they are, have overshadowed those of CEOs at other failed institutions, like Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers, all heavy players in high-risk subprime loans.

Bruck digs under the portrait of the villain who’s the subject of a hundred lawsuits and an SEC criminal investigation to find a man of outrageous ambitions who didn’t have the courage to hold back, or stop peddling toxic products, even when he knew that the real estate and credit bubbles were due to explode. Essential reading.