Tales from the Boom-Boom Room [Paperback]

Susan Antilla (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 16, 2003

In the 1990s, women in record numbers looked to Wall Street as a great place to build successful and lucrative careers.What many of them found there was not meritocracy, but a boy’s club of misbehaving stockbrokers, and a workplace culture that knew no bounds in its harassment and discriminating behavior toward women. Sometimes it was threatening language; other times it was physical intimidation; but often, it was much worse. Eventually, women who were subjected to this behavior exploited a loophole in stock-exchange rules and opened the door to unprecedented lawsuits that shook Wall Street to its very core.

Taking its title from the notorious party room at Smith Barney's Garden City, New York branch, Tales from the Boom-Boom Room is the detailed and riveting insider account of the lewd and obscene behavior that has run rampant on Wall Street. In this edition, author Susan Antilla provides a new afterword maintaining that despite some improvements in workplace conditions, women continue to face an uphill battle on Wall Street.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This in-depth investigation of the Smith Barney sex scandal and other discrimination against women on Wall Street in the 1990s is an eye-opener. Bloomberg News columnist Antilla deftly tracks the drama and its legal twists and turns, capturing the different points of view while depicting the main characters convincingly. The effect of the lawsuit against Smith Barney was huge, opening a discussion of how women were treated in this male-dominated industry and eventually leading to a watershed change. Antilla begins with the lurid tales from Smith Barney's Garden City, N.Y., basement party room (the so-called "Boom-Boom Room"), where lap dances took place, managers carried guns and men burped, farted and partied with gusto and apparently little self-control. But stories like these were not limited to this one location. Industrywide, many women told similar, recurring tales of how they were intimidated; harassed with X-rated talk; excluded from business lunches, meetings and golf outings; and how their careers were damaged or stymied in various ways. These women put up with devastating behavior far beyond typical locker-room shenanigans; many quit or considered suicide. From Merrill Lynch to Smith Barney, Olde and others, such behavior finally prompted major lawsuits, leading to arbitration and massive media coverage. Antilla expertly untangles the story's many contrasting sides, creating a compelling and disturbing portrait of an industry and the women who dared to challenge it. Photos.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“A gutsy, important book” (Financial Times )

“Comprehensive and sharply written” (BusinessWeek )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (December 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060565454
• ISBN-13: 978-0060565459
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,050,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very accurate, November 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Tales from the Boom-Boom Room: Women vs. Wall Street (Hardcover)

I was a successful broker for many years in one of Smith Barney's largest offices in the nation, and I can personally attest that the events depicted in this book, while shocking, are not exaggerations.

I would have appreciated if Antilla had consulted with some Constitutional law experts. She should have noted that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld mandatory arbitration shortly after Judge Motley upheld it in this particular lawsuit.

Antilla captures the culture of Shearson Lehman Bros. and Smith Barney with uncanny accuracy. Any investor -- male or female -- should read this book to understand some of the ways that the Wall Street good old boys network circles the wagons to protect their own.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Black Eye for Wall Street, November 10, 2004

By 

Bunson Honeydew (White Plains, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tales from the Boom-Boom Room (Paperback)

I found it difficult to put this book down, and I would have given it 5 stars if the ending wasn't so weak. The end left me hanging and was a little confusing with all of the names and trials.

That said, I heard of some of the cast of characters in this book. I even worked for the same firm as one of them, and he was an arrogant guy who thinks his you know what doesn't stink.

Some of the stories in here were bizzare and almost all were well documented. Men and women should read this book to learn about Wall Street's dirty little secret. However, I am not convinced that this is a problem unique to Wall Street. I am positive that discrimination is in all industries, and it is not limited to sexual harrassment.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed With Knowledge!, June 16, 2004

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tales from the Boom-Boom Room: Women vs. Wall Street (Hardcover)

Susan Antilla presents a powerful and startling indictment of the sexist behavior of stock brokers working for Wall Street and its offshoots, specifically Smith Barney's Shearson/American Express office in Garden City, Long Island. Women struggled to be hired, and then found that the men in charge of their careers practiced all sorts of sexual harassment and intimidation, from jokes to displays of sexual prowess, physical contact and threats of rape. As she describes, the bosses sought to bar women or trap them in low positions. While painting the broader picture, Antilla focuses on whistle blower, Pam Martens, who revealed the situation when she sued for damages. This skillfully written book reads like a fascinating novel, so graphic and dramatic that it is more like a screenplay than a report. We believe it will draw intense interest from everyone affected by this issue: female executives who face glass ceilings and harassment, male executives who must determine their own philosophies toward their female colleagues and human resource professionals who are charged with watching out for them both.