Ellis, the author of 14 books and managing partner of Greenwich Associates, a strategy-consulting firm, here provides a history of Goldman Sachs, which is arguably the most profitable and powerful investment bank in the world today. The firm began in 1885 as the partnership of two intermarrying families, but there was a rift early on; to this day, the two families are not on speaking terms. Nevertheless, through the expertise of the many partners through the years, the firm has pioneered virtually every area of finance: early in the twentieth century, they underwrote the initial stock offerings of companies such as Sears and Ford; they dominated institutional block trading in the 1970s, bonds and leveraged buyouts in the 1980s, and global finance in the 1990s. The book also chronicles the tough times the company has weathered, including the Great Depression, various market...