Tales from the Boom-Boom Room: Women vs. Wall Street [Hardcover]

Susan Antilla (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002 | Series: Bloomberg (Book 30)

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 no meritocracy, but an industry living by the rules of a 1960s fraternity, with the money and legal clout to silence any challenges. Award-winning columnist Susan Antilla broke the story of shocking sex discrimination at Smith Barney and other major brokers. Her disclosures in the press were a rallying cry for class actions challenging the sexual hazing and outrageous disparities in pay that shackled professional women on Wall Street.

Taking its title from the infamous basement party room of Smith Barney’s Garden City, New York, branch office, and representing years of extensive research, Tales from the Boom-Boom Room traces the story of the lead whistle-blower, Pam Martens, the crusading broker who put an entire industry on the defensive, then found herself at odds not just with her local bosses and with powerful figures like Travelers Group president Jamie Dimon, but with her coplaintiffs and attorneys. The women’s employment agreements forbade them to sue, and only an ingenious legal strategy circumvented that virtual gag rule and brought the scandal out from behind the closed doors of arbitration. This is a riveting human, legal, and business drama of women and men in the financial institutions on Wall Street and around America.

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.

Review

"...a book that shows what a really good investigative reporter can do with the hot topic of sexual harassment." -- Lucy Sussex, Sunday Age (Melbourne), November 24, 2002

"A gutsy, important book." -- Kate Jennings, The Financial Times, December 5, 2002

"A startling new book… A catalogue of long-suppressed abuse of women." -- James Langton, The Evening Standard (London), December 5, 2002

"An explosive new book that has scandalized Manhattan’s financial district." -- Sarah Baxter, Sunday Times (London), November 17, 2002

"Comprehensive and sharply written… The author turns up some outrageous details." -- Heather Timmons, Business Week, November 25, 2002

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bloomberg Press; 1 edition (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576600785
• ISBN-13: 978-1576600788
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very accurate November 8, 2003

By A Customer

Format: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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

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

By Bunson Honeydew VINE™ VOICE

Format: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 HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format: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.