Street Freak
Street Freak is a revealing, personal memoir of a volatile period in the dual lives of a big-time trader and the fallen American giant Lehman Brothers depicted in the fueled words of Jared Dillian, a major figure at the company. Like Michael Lewis’s classic Liar’s Poker, Street Freak takes readers behind the scenes of the legendary Lehman Brothers, exposing its outrageous and often hilarious corporate culture. From his earliest days with the firm on 9/11, where he witnessed the attacks from a vantage point across the street from the World Trade Center, to the eventual collapse of the financial markets and his firm in 2008, Dillian provides a unique, inside account of events that touched every American. In his electrifying and fresh voice, Dillian takes readers on a wild ride through madness and back, both inside Lehman Brothers and himself.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Street Freak takes you on the journey of how an ex-military, working-class outsider navigates the inner workings of the Ivy League—dominated world of finance.
Dillian draws parallels between his own bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders and the problems he witnessed within the Lehman Brothers.
From 9/11 through the final years of Lehman Brothers, you’ll get an inside look into the most dynamic times in financial history.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
“[A] disturbingly candid memoir... From hair-trigger decisions to trashy banter, Dillian captures how the market feels from inside the belly of a trading room. . . . [A] blunt and sometimes hilarious account.”
“Thank God for the 3rd element, because if it wasn’t for lithium Jared Dillian might still be in the psych ward looking for his shoelaces. Instead, we get Street Freak, the best Wall Street memoir in a bunch of years.”
—John Rolfe, coauthor of Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle
“Always vivid, by turns hilarious and sad, this is an electrifying memoir about not only money and madness, but the madness of money. It left me wondering yet again about the shifting boundaries between sanity and insanity.”
—Siri Hustvedt, author of The Summer Without Men
”Dillian hardly fit the mold of the rich, Northeastern prep-schooler, and his outsider status served as a great attribute, offering him a clearer view of an industry both morally and economically bankrupt.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"A bipolar math whiz [and] amusingly caustic writer whose new memoir pulls no punches about a financial career that nearly cost him both his sanity and his life."