Power Failure The Inside Story Of The Collapse Of Enron

General Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron, Mimi Swartz and Sherron Watkins, 432 pages, March 25, 2003, Crown Publishing Group, ISBN: 978-0-767-91368-3 Authors The book is written by two authors: Mimi Swartz and Sherron Watkins. Mimi Swartz is a journalist who graduated from Hampshire College. She has written for many publications. Her work has been included in Slate, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, The New Yorker, and the New York Times. Currently, she serves as an executive editor for Texas Monthly. Ms. Swartz is a long time resident of Texas, and was able to use her experiences and insight into the Texan psyche to highlight the personalities of the Texas company and the attitude of its employees. Sherron†¦show more content†¦Sherron is uniquely qualified to offer experiences that she personally witnessed during her tenure there. As an accountant, she was able to understand and explain the intricate details of what went wrong at Enron. Summary Power Failure is a book that tells the story of Enron from the point of view of one of the book’s authors, Sherron Watkins. The basic premise of the book is given in the first chapter when Tom Peters warns the attendees of a corporate conference that â€Å"An excess of self-confidence kills companies† (Swartz Watkins, 2003, Loc. 306). First, the authors describe the November management conference of 2000. The point describes Sherron’s experience at the conference and her interaction with several key people, among whom were Jeff Skilling and Andy Fastow. Next, the authors of the book advance through a timeline starting with a brief biography of Ken Lay. The timeline of Enron carries into company’s desire to continue to expand and grow. Secondly, the narrative symbolizes the rise of Andy Fastow who ultimately ran the various shell companies that were instrumental in keeping debts off the balance sheets. Thirdly, the book describes Sherron Watkinsâ₠¬â„¢s attempt at getting her leadership to correct the problems and admit to the stakeholders the true financial situation of Enron. Power Failure highlights the letters she sent to Ken Lay. Ms. Watkins wrote to