Exclusive Student – Educator Session

Private conversation with renowned business journalist Bethany McLean, who first rose to national attention when she and fellow reporter Peter Elkind exposed the Enron scandal. She then co-wrote the national bestsellers The Smartest Guys in the Room and All the Devils Are Here.

Her most recent book, The Big Fail, is a damning indictment of American capitalism—and the leaders that left us brutally unprepared for a global pandemic.

In 2020, the novel coronavirus pandemic made it painfully clear that the U.S. could not adequately protect its citizens. Millions of Americans suffered—and over a million died—in less than two years, while government officials blundered; prize-winning economists overlooked devastating trade-offs; and elites escaped to isolated retreats, unaffected by and even profiting from the pandemic.

Why and how did America, in a catastrophically enormous failure, become the world leader in COVID deaths? In this page-turning economic, political, and financial history, veteran journalists Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera offer fresh and provocative answers. With laser-sharp analysis and deep sourcing, they investigate both what really happened when governments ran out of PPE due to snarled supply chains and the shock to the financial system when the world’s biggest economy stumbled. They zero in on the effectiveness of wildly polarized approaches, with governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Ron DeSantis of Florida taking infamous turns in the spotlight. And they trace why thousands died in hollowed-out hospital systems and nursing homes run by private equity firms to “maximize shareholder value.”

In the tradition of the authors’ previous landmark exposés, The Big Fail is an expansive, insightful account on what the pandemic did to the economy and how American capitalism has jumped the rails – and is essential reading to understand where we’re going next.

Bethany McLean’s latest book, The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind, will be available for signing at the event.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Bethany McLean is a contributing editor and writer for Vanity Fair. She is the co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron and All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis.

McLean is also the author of Saudi America: The Truth About Fracking and How It’s Changing the World and Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants. She was previously editor at large of Fortune and spent three years working at Goldman Sachs. McLean graduated from Williams College with a double major in mathematics and English.