Silverado

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Denver Post reporter Wilmsen broke the story of the president's son's connection with Silverado Savings and Loan when he discovered that two of the Denver thrift's biggest borrowers were Neil Bush's business partners. In a complicated tale of greed and irresponsibility, Wilmsen steers the reader through Silverado's shady dealings, focusing on a handful of deceitful key players who gutted the institution. While highlighting Neil Bush's unrestrained drive for wealth, position and social status, the author endorses the notion that ``ethically myopic'' Bush believed he had done no wrong. The book apportions a good deal of blame to the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand, which ignored clear signs that the thrift was near insolvency to report that it was in excellent financial health. The federal government has now settled its suit against Silverado, including ex-director Bush. First serial to Playboy. (Aug.)

Library Journal

Wilmsen, an investigative journalist, examines the history of the Silverado Bank scandal and the role President Bush's son Neil played in this affair. He details the involvement of bank officials, especially the crafty chairman, Michael Wise, and his relationship with Neil Bush in a series of business deals that resulted in embarrassment and scandal. The biographies of the chief protagonists and the background of the deregulation policies and banking put things into perspective for the reader. However the particular activities of Wise and Bush, which are thoroughly documented herein, provide thought-provoking reading that will be of interest to all followers of recent banking activities. For general business collections.-- Steven J. Mayover, Free Lib. of Philadelphia