24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America

By Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller

This is the story of Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller, the two reporters who led the Wall Street Journal's reporting on Enron and uncovered the unorthodox partnerships at the heart of the scandal through skill, luck, and relentless determination.

It all started in August 2001when Emshwiller was assigned to write a supposedly simple article on the unexpected resignation of Enron CEO Jeff Skilling. During his research, Emshwiller uncovered a buried reference to an off-balance-sheet partnership called LJM. Little did he know, this was the start of a fast and furious ride through the remarkable downfall of a once highly-prized company.

Written in an intense, fast paced narrative style, 24 Days tells the gripping story of the colossal collapse of what would become the world's most notorious corporation. The reader follows along as Smith and Emshwiller continue to uncover new partnerships and self-dealing among the highest levels of Enron's management. As they publish articles detailing their findings in the Journal, Wall Street and individual investors have a crisis of confidence and start selling Enron stock at unprecedented levels of volume. In the end - 24 short days later - Enron had completely collapsed, erasing 16 years of growth and losing $19 billion in market value while watching the stock drop from $33.84 to $8.41. Not only was the company destroyed, but investors and retired employees were completely wiped out-all the while Enron executives were collecting millions of dollars.

Climaxing with this 24-day period, this book shows the reporter's-eye view of a David-and-Goliath battle between journalists and a giant corporation. Each day a new story uncovered another fact; each day the company issued denials. And when the investigative stories reached critical mass and momentum, the stock market cast its final vote of no confidence. In the tradition of Indecent Exposure and Barbarians at the Gate, two other gripping narratives that began as a series of Wall Street Journal stories and ended up as books that defined an era, 24 Days brings the importance of great investigative journalism to life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061747809

Rebecca Smith

Rebecca Smith is the founder of Better Life Bags, a custom handbag company whose workforce is made up of local women with barriers to employment. Rebecca loves to encourage and coach young entrepreneurs who desire to use their businesses for good. She is passionate about reminding women that when it comes to pursuing dreams, waiting on God’s nudges always beats hustling hard. It’s okay being the turtle; life is better when it’s slow. Rebecca and her husband, Neil, live in Hamtramck, MI where they run Better Life Bags together. They have four amazing kids: Jonah, Clara, Corbin, and Gavin.

Reviews for 24 Days

[dakin-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great recap of how the Enron story unfolded. Terrific ideas for reporting.

[threadnsong · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A really good book that covers the stories written by these two Wall Street Journal reports over the course of October through December 2001. I did enjoy "The Smartest Guys in the Room" and when I saw this one, that describes the fall of Enron as happening in only 24 days, I realized I had to have it.There is a lot of business talk in this book. I was not a business major, nor do I fully grasp how debt is anything but something to get rid of as quickly as possible. The idea of "leveraged debt" is an oxymoron in my (many) books! But all kidding aside, the fact that Enron created such complicated balance sheets and explanations for what they did was part of the problem. So was the complicity of rating agencies - they fell for guys in power who charmed their way through quarterly stock updates instead of asking the tough questions.This book is along the lines of "All the President's Men," in that it involves the lives of the journalists who uncovered the lies and asked the right questions. And it is fascinating to remember that a couple of tough questions, and a couple of tips shared, began the questioning process that led to the collapse of this industry behemoth. In only 24 days.

[terbby · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I just finished reading the Kindle version after finding a recommendation in Library Thing. The subject of the Enron collapse is fascinating but this is not the best coverage of the subject. The authors are Wall Street Journal reporters which usually gaurantees good writing but here they spend way too much time sorting out the differing views and contributions of the respective authors; who cares? Rather than telling a story about their work as reporters, the authors should have told the story of Enron. Those who are interested in that story should read The Smartest Guys in the Room instead of this book.