Customer Reviews

The Foreclosure of America: The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Crisis, and the Default of the American Dream

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

The book is not about Countrywide's mortgage miscalculation. Rather it's about Countrywide's VP of junk mail and online banner ads. Page after page of how he and his "team" decided which type of junk mail envelope would make a nice addition to your trash can.

As a retired Navy officer I was particularly annoyed with the author constantly referring to his military past. He did two years in ROTC!!

Looks like the Countrywide gang found a way to keep selling even after the implosion.

This book was one of the worst I have read - and I have read quite a few about the housing crisis of the past few years. There was probably about three pages telling a sad story about a woman and her children who lost their house due to their ARM skyrocketing. I believe, a few chapters later, he repeats the same story. The rest of the book is all about the author himself and is very boring. Nothing substantial is in this book about Countrywide. Hence, a rip-off. If you want to read a very good book about the subprime mess including Ameriquest and Countrywide, buy: "Chain of Blame: How Wall Street Caused the Mortgage and Credit Crisis." That book is so good you won't want to put it down. A must for anyone wanting to read about the housing crisis and crash of 2007.

The author sure writes a lot to tell us so little. On top of that, he comes across as a smarmy, egotistical *sshat more often than not. And enough with the italics, really -- the heavy, heavy use of itals nearly made this book almost unreadable. We get it, Adam: you think it's an important point. It's better to let your readers make the jump, though. Especially when you have so many damn "important points" on every page.
The cover illo got my attention, but the rest of the book failed to live up to any reasonable expectation of an "expose."

I am on page 80. He still is not working at Countrywide. First 80 pages - his childhood, his studies, his parents, his job history, his successes, his failures, his philosophical revelations about being here and there and doing this or that. And that he knew from day one that THIS will happen but nobody was listening. I DON'T CARE! I just wanted to know what happened to mortgage industry. Sorry, I have no partience and time to go through all this.

Normally I would return this book to Amazon. Fortunately, there is somebody's birthday this weekend. I have a gift. Maybe this person will have more patience...

It has taken me three days just to get to page 95. For someone whose job it was to get and keep people interested in the product, the author certainly failed this time. Where were the editors? The book, so far, is devoid of fact and filled with water cooler gossip and characterizations, which, I'm guessing, is supposed to 'humanize' the employees, but merely shows their shallowness. I suspect that if I manage to finish this beast, I'll wish I could get the lost hours back.

Adam Michaelson's book is an eye opener, to say the least. I have to compare the book to a major water cooler gossip session, laying bare the motivation (greed), politics (of course) and inner workings of Countrywide from someone who was actually ON the inside. For those of us who've watched in horror as this economic disaster has unfolded, the book answers quite a few questions about how the landslide began, and how it evolved into the avelanche that's wiped out the lives of so many.
The book is written in such a manner as to make the reader feel as though they're receiving insider trading tips. There are even little excerpts of humor sprinkled liberally throughout the book, which, by the time you run across them, god knows you'll need the laugh.
Interesting enough that I read it through without stopping.

The Title and Cover Design of this book was very catching when I first walked by it in Barnes & Noble. I've got to hand it to Adam Michaelson, he does a slick job in marketing his book, e.g. Amazon.com, the 'Newly published books table' at Barnes & Noble, TV interviews, etc, after all this guy's a marketing guy. You just got ripped off.

Adam Michaelson shows his egotistical nature by devoting half this book on his career, promotions, job experience, and just boring job detail. After all, he is a CMO. What?....you say. What is a CMO? I've heard of a CEO. Even a CFO and a COO, but a CMO? Well, Adam has filled his book full of boring fluff to convince you how important a CMO is.

From my reading of this book, one would assume that Adam was actually a manager of the company's Web Page Development. There is so much attention to job detail with web design, the reader will most certainly fall asleep.

.... "In cases like this that involved the subjectivity of creative, I would call upon my Direct Marketing background and, maximizing the power of the web, try to pick just two or three concepts to test. By rotating two or three banner concepts into the same media buy space, within one day I could clearly see which banner would be generating the greatest number of clicks, or responses. When in doubt of subjective creative choices, always let the marketplace - your customers - tell you which one will be most profitable via their response behavior." ....

Adam certainly brings out his self-centeredness by continually focusing on his web experience. This book is wordy, and is is filled throughout with boring excerpts of who else? .....Adam Michaelson:

.... 'Yes, cuff links. Since starting at Countrywide, I tended to "overshadow the runway" on attire. I wanted to be known as a professional, a client now, no longer an agency flip-flops cliche. I always wore a tie. And many days, I would wear crisply starched shirts with French cuffs, and acccompanying cuff links to clink on the conference tables as I presented some critical marketing data. I wanted to be taken seriously, and during my New York training, I saw that dressing the part could make the difference.' ....

.... blah, blah, blah.......

Adam speaks continually about his conferences, meetings, and lunches with important people within Countrywide. He writes endlessly trying to convince you that he has gathered valuable information about some top secret Countrywide information. I continued to read this book thinking I would run into some valuable information on the subprime mortgage crisis. There is little value in his book. Adam Michaelson's limited information on the mortgage crisis is common knowledge to the regular viewer of CNN or CNBC. Well, after all, what do you expect a marketing guy to talk about? In my opinion this book is about as interesting as a box of rocks.

I picked up this book on a whim for a very good price. I hardly knew what it was about when I started reading. The story was intriguing and I found it a very fast read. It turned out to be a sort of autobiography of the author but to me this was fine as I was not expecting anything else, the story was fascinating, and the book was well written. The theme throughout the book was that adjustable rate mortgages were the cause of the decline.

I don't like writing negative reviews because books are tough to write. I give credit to anyone who tries to put pen to paper, including this author. However, I simply can't recommend this book. In a non-fiction work I expect names, details and finger pointing if warranted. When reading this book I got the feeling the author had his attorney looking over his shoulder as he was writing making comments like, "You can't say that or you'll get sued." My advice to the author is this. In your next edition step up to the plate and name names and places. Take a few shots if warranted. Your book should have a place on the history book shelves if you do and it will be a much better read.

I purchased this book and read the first 110 pages in the parking lot. Then I opened 15 or so pages at random and read them. Then I walked back into Boarders and returned it. When the clerk asked me why I was returning it I said it it was not about what the title said it was. As a mortgage broker and banker who has used Countrywide heavily over the years, all I can say is that the fleecing of America continues with this book. Just like the terrible mortgages he says he is going to talk about, this book offers nothing close to what it promises. What a pompous load of drivel. I could tell you in two minutes a lot more interesting and truly inside information than he does in in this entire excuse for a book. One reviewer here says they are now going to give it to someone as a gift. All I can say is that they must truly hate that person.