Belly Up: The Collapse of the Penn Square Bank

bought this book for a friend who, not coincidentally was involved in the events that are depicted. he lost his copy and was very happy to get another.

This book is a well-written account of a bizzare episode in banking history. Employing well-researched fact, astute observation of human behavior, and occasional sprinklings of dry humor, Zweig manages to pen a very readable account of the rise and fall of a small bank in Oklahoma. Though criticized by some as being dry in parts, laden with banking jargon foreign to a reader not well-versed in commercial banking, I found it not at all difficult to get the basic ideas of the banking sins committed by those who brought Penn Square to its knees during the early 1980's. Zweig makes up for occasional- but I believe necessary- dryness with brilliantly entertaining accounts of the many people who had a hand in the debacle. All in all, I found it a readable and enjoyable book, and I think that anyone interested in banking or the oil industry would likely agree.

Though this book relates to the oil crash in the 80's and the financial destruction of Oklahoma, more importantly, it demonstrates what is about to happen all over America. Read this book, folks, and realize; IT CAN HAPPEN HERE. (and will)

Belly Up is the story of how a small bank located in a strip mall in Oklahoma City could cause the collapse of the giant Contentinal Illinois Bank, and the weakening of Seafirst, Chase and MichNat. Spanning locations from the gas fields of Oklahoma, the halls of Congress, a boardroom in Chicago, and the parking lot in front of Penn Square Bank, Zweig does an admirable job of weaving this saga through apt characterizations of the major players involved in this debacle. The effects of this bank's failure continue to be felt 20 years later and have shaped the banking industry as we know it today.