Lewis got incredible access to Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire behind the spectacular FTX fraud. His book is a bestseller, but some critics say he went too easy on S.B.F. Lewis tells us why the critics are wrong — and what it’s like to watch your book get turned into a courtroom drama.

SOURCES:
- Michael Lewis, author.

RESOURCES:
- Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, by Michael Lewis (2023).
- "Column: In Michael Lewis, Sam Bankman-Fried Found His Last and Most Willing Victim," by Michael Hiltzik (Los Angeles Times, 2023).
- "Even Michael Lewis Can’t Make a Hero Out of Sam Bankman-Fried," by Jennifer Szalai (The New York Times, 2023).
- "Michael Lewis Goes Close on Sam Bankman-Fried — Maybe Too Close," by James Ledbetter (The Washington Post, 2023).
- "What You Won’t Learn From Michael Lewis’ Book on FTX Could Fill Another Book," by Julia M. Klein (Los Angeles Times, 2023).
- "Michael Lewis’s Big Contrarian Bet," by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2023).
- "He-Said, They-Said," by John Lanchester (London Review of Books, 2023).
- "Downfall of the Crypto King," by Jesse Armstrong (The Times Literary Supplement, 2023).
- "FTX Debtors vs. Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried," in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (2023).
- Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses: Eighth Edition, by Richard C. Pilger (2017).
- "Pay Candidates to Drop Out? That Should Be Legal," by Stephen L. Carter (Bloomberg, 2016).
- "The History of the Term 'Effective Altruism,'" by William MacAskill (Effective Altruism Forum, 2014).

EXTRAS:
- "Is This 'The Worst Job in Corporate America' — or Maybe the Best?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
- "A Million-Year View on Morality," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
- “Did Michael Lewis Just Get Lucky with 'Moneyball'?” by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

Listen Now

The Freakonomics Radio Book Club

9. All You Need Is Nudge