“Confessions of a Subprime Lender” by Richard Bitner (Wiley, $19.95): From his vantage point as a former president and cofounder of a mortgage company, the author wants to tell readers what went wrong in the industry, hitting these main points: why nearly three out of every four mortgages were misleading or fraudulent; how unscrupulous brokers tricked lenders and borrowers; how brokers and lenders turned unqualified applicants into "qualified borrowers" and why Wall Street and rating agencies are largely to blame for the collapse. Bitner believes fraud and greed too often overwhelmed common sense and there are plenty of guilty parties. This is not a terribly in-depth look at the problem or a whole lot of new information but the stories he tells will confirm what people already suspect: People working in the mortgage industry got carried away with making money.
- PAM ROBINSON