THE PARTNERSHIP The Making of Goldman Sachs

THE PARTNERSHIP, a corporate history of Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street investment firm, adopts an unrelentingly glowing, even fawning, tone. Norman Dietz matches it with a reading that seems to add "How wonderful!" to every statement—even when the company finds itself in financial trouble. While Dietz’s upbeat take is fitting, both book and listeners might have been better served by a drier tone. Still, his ability to bring expressive enthusiasm to over 30 hours of sometimes-numbing detail is remarkable. Dietz even makes vivid a list of names in the acknowledgments. But despite his yeoman's job of heartfelt narration, those outside the industry may find the book's detail dull, its frequent use of unexplained technical terms confusing, and its tone off-putting. W.M. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2009]