Michael Lewis

Wall Street on the Tundra

Iceland’s de facto bankruptcy; its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance resulted from a stunning collective madness. What led a tiny fishing nation, population 300,000, to decide, around 2003, to re-invent itself as a global financial power? In Reykjavík, where men are men, and the women seem to have completely given up on them, MICHAEL LEWIS follows the peculiarly Icelandic logic behind the meltdown.

The No-Stats All-Star

The N.B.A. (learning from baseball) is discovering the power of new statistics and weird analytics. By these measures, the unsung and undervalued Shane Battier is a true all-star.

The End

The era that defined Wall Street is finally, officially over. Michael Lewis, who chronicled its excess in Liar’s Poker, returns to his old haunt to figure out what went wrong.

The Ballad of Big Mike

Michael Lewis article on Michael Oher, All-American offensive left tackle of Ole Miss Rebels, and people in Memphis, Tenn, particularly Sean Tuohy and his wife, Leigh Anne, who helped him get there from his very unpromising beginning as more or less homeless, almost entirely unschooled 16-year-old whose father had been shot and killed and whose mother was addicted to crack; notes high salaries that NFL teams pay to left tackles because they protect right-handed quarterback's blind side; photos (L)

Coach Fitz's Management Theory

Michael Lewis article on Billy Fitzgerald, Ne

The Trading Desk

Michael Lewis article on Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who has used statistics to make his job more science than art; by quantifying and assigning value to certain baseball stats, Beane has succeeded in developing excellent team for minimal money, in baseball terms; Beane acquires players that other teams reject or fail to utilize because he is impressed by their numbers, where other teams rely heavily on more traditional performance gauges; photo (L)

Jonathan Lebed's Extracurricular Activities

Michael Lewis article on Jonathan Lebed, first minor ever to face proceedings for stock-market fraud, and murky questions case raises about what exactly constitutes illegal market manipulation; in September 2000, Securities and Exchange Commission settled case against 15-year-old, who used Internet to promote stocks from his bedroom in New Jersey suburb of Cedar Grove; Lebed agreed to hand over $285,000, but SEC did not go after additional $500,000 in profits Lebed accumulated in six months of trading; Lebed was accused of 'artificially' influencing market by posting hundreds of messages on Web touting stocks he had purchased; however, 'artificial' appears to mean whatever SEC says it means, or what it can persuade courts it means, highlighting illusion that stock prices are ever 'real' and fact that they are continuously influenced by media, professional analysts and companies themselves; photos (L)

Faking It

Michael Lewis article on cautionary tale of Marcus Arnold, 15-year-old son of Belize immigrants in California who became top-rated 'legal expert' on AskMe Web Site; photos (M)

How the Eggheads Cracked

The Subversive

Michael Lewis profile of Sen John McCain and his drive for campaign finance reform; recalls how he survived years of torture in North Vietnamese prison camp and became involved in reform effort after facing ethics probe for accepting campaign funds from Charles Keating; photos (L)