Michael Robinson takes a different approach that may make more sense to some readers. His book looks at the debacle through a case study of the collapse of California's American Savings. He does a fine a job of tracing the history of American and its predecessors under the parsimonious Mark Taper and details the early 80's merger which cut Taper out of the process and installed less cautious executives at the helm. Its collapse and subsequent sale to the Bass group of Texas in the summer of 1988 brought the scandal to the attention of the mass of Americans who don't follow financial developments religiously. As such, it was a case that truly tested the players in the bailout game.
Investors take heed.
Most would agree that is how it should be. Mayer and Robinson both show how the government was powerless to keep savings and loans from growing exponentially. It was this that uncontrolled growth that spelled the demise of the industry. The best book on the subject to date and the first to profile the fall of a single thrift are both worthy of discussion.