Lewis, Michael 1960–

(Michael M. Lewis)

PERSONAL:

Born October 15, 1960, in New Orleans, LA; son of J. Thomas (a corporate lawyer) and Diana (a community activist) Lewis; married Tabitha Soren; children: a daughter. Education: Princeton University, B.A., 1982; London School of Economics and Political Science, M.A., 1985.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Paris, France. Agent—Albert Zuckerman, Writers House, 21 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER:

Writer and journalist. University of California at Berkeley, visiting fellow. Also narrated short pieces for American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) television news show Nightline and hosted a series on presidential politics for National Public Radio. Previously worked at Salomon Brothers, New York, NY, bond salesman, 1984-88.

WRITINGS:

Liar's Poker: Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 1989.

Pacific Rift: Adventures in the Fault Zone between the U.S. and Japan, Whittle Communications (Knoxville, TN), 1991.

The Money Culture (articles and essays), W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 1991.

Trail Fever: Spin Doctors, Rented Strangers, Thumb Wrestlers, Toe Suckers, Grizzly Bears, and Other Creatures on the Road to the White House, Knopf (New York, NY), 1997.

The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2000.

Losers: The Road to Everyplace but the White House, Vintage (New York, NY), 2000.

Next: The Future Just Happened, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2001.

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2003.

Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life (memoir), W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2005.

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including New Republic, New York Times, New Yorker, Slate, Foreign Affairs, Spectator, and Washington Post. Columnist for Bloomberg. Former editor and columnist for the British weekly the Spectator and senior editor and campaign correspondent of the New Republic.

SIDELIGHTS:

Michael Lewis became a top bond salesman for Wall Street's Salomon Brothers firm before resigning in 1988 to become a writer. In 1989 Lewis published his first book, Liar's Poker: Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street, in which he recounts his own experiences in the stocks-and-bonds field. A successful bond trader, Lewis contends, is one who is shrewd and willing to risk substantial funds in order to realize ever-greater profits. Lewis also observes, however, that a successful company cannot practice similarly cavalier management, and in Liar's Poker he charts the demise of Salomon Brothers as a key firm in bond trading. According to Lewis, internal competition, greed, and a lack of long-range planning all served to undo Salomon Brothers, which suffered major losses in October 1987, when the value of stocks unexpectedly plummeted.

Liar's Poker generally won acclaim as an incisive, often funny insider's perspective on Wall Street practices. A Tribune Books contributor, for instance, described Lewis's book as "sort of a financial locker room yarn." Another critic, Richard L. Stern, noted in the New York Times Book Review that Lewis is "obviously as good a writer as he was a bond salesman."

Lewis followed Liar's Poker with Pacific Rift: Adventures in the Fault Zone between the U.S. and Japan, in which he compares and contrasts the business practices of two men: a Japanese real-estate representative in New York City and an American insurance seller. In Pacific Rift, as Frank Gibney reported in the New York Times Book Review, Lewis substantiates "the obvious fact that Japanese and American ways of doing business are often very different." America, he asserts, has developed a deviant capitalism, one dependent on federal regulation that is, in turn, alarmingly negative in its effects. But Japan, Lewis contends, has practiced a more traditional capitalism, which depends largely on private businesses. In addition, according to Lewis, Japanese culture has maintained its emphasis on conservative values. "In other words," as George Gilder noted in the Washington Post Book World, "Japan wins through low taxes, firm families, rigorous schools and hard work." Gilder found Pacific Rift a sobering analysis.

Lewis is also author of The Money Culture, a collection of articles and essays. In these pieces Lewis provides a look at high-stakes financial players of the 1980s, from Donald Trump and Leona Helmsley to Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken. Gary Weiss, in his Business Week review of The Money Culture, described Lewis as "entertaining" and added that "the durability of Lewis's prose is impressive."

For his next book, the author turns to politics. Trail Fever: Spin Doctors, Rented Strangers, Thumb Wrestlers, Toe Suckers, Grizzly Bears, and Other Creatures on the Road to the White House follows the 1996 campaign trails of President Bill Clinton as he seeks to be reelected to the presidency and his opponent, Senator Bob Dole. Beginning with the 1996 New Hampshire primary, the author examines how presidential campaigns are run and managed. A contributor to the Economist noted that "Mr. Lewis can be riveting despite the dull animals he is selling." Gilbert Taylor, writing in Booklist, commented: "The innumerable acid asides give Lewis' story a delightful digging tone that captures the zaniness, phoniness, and earnestness of … [the electoral] process."

The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, published in 2000, focuses on Jim Clark, an entrepreneur who is about to establish his third company following the hugely successful Silicon Graphics and then Netscape. As he profiles Clark, the author broadens his scope beyond Clark's business achievements to the man himself and to other eccentric billionaires who made their fortune by creating companies when the "Information Age" was new and beginning to boom. "Lewis's admiration for Clark is evident," wrote Andres Herandez Alende in Latin Trade. "But that doesn't obscure his elegant narrative about Clark's constant search for the newest thing." Writing in the Library Journal, Norman B. Hutcherson called The New New Thing "a great read," adding that it "tells a compelling story."

In Next: The Future Just Happened, the author explores how the Internet boom has changed the world and how people live, work, and think. Regarding the Internet as one of the greatest status revolutions in the world's history, the author shows how people are using the Internet for revolutionary purposes to bring about a new order that threatens to topple business institutions such as the music industry and even change the nature of democracy and government. "This is a fascinating read, full of frank wit and keen sociological insight," wrote Eric Wargo in Book.

Lewis turns his attention to professional baseball with Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, which Law Firm Inc. contributor Bill Bay called "enjoyable, provocative, and full of business lessons." Examining how professional baseball clubs achieve success, the author follows the Oakland Athletics, a low-budget organization headed by their general manager, Billy Beane. In the story, the author reveals how both undervalued players and administrators combined their talents to create a successful franchise while rejecting the idea that money can buy success. For example, the author relates how Beane went against the common view that baseball players had to be muscular athletes. In Beane's mind, muscles did not necessarily equate to prowess in hitting a baseball, as he showed by drafting an overweight first baseman from the University of Pittsburgh who devastated college pitchers but was overlooked by all the other teams because of his weight. Mathew Creamer, writing in PR Week, noted that it is "the behind-the-scenes details that make the book so vivid." Newsweek contributor Devin Gordon wrote that "anyone who cares about baseball must read" Moneyball.

Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life is the author's 2005 memoir of his time playing high school baseball for Coach Fitz, who taught Lewis much more than just how to play the game. In the process of coaching Lewis in the late 1970s and instilling confidence in the then fourteen-year-old, Coach Fitz also imparts a message about sacrifice, self-respect, courage, and endurance in the face of adversity. Lewis paints a portrait of a man whose toughness and strictness has caused many of his former players to think of him often but whose approach is contrary to modern parents' ideas of what a coach should be. As a result, the author recounts how today's parents have called to complain to the school's headmaster about Coach Fitz being too tough on their kids. In a review of Coach, a Publishers Weekly contributor commented that book's primary lesson is the "reminder that fear and failure are the ‘two greatest enemies of a well lived life.’"

The author continues his writing about sports with The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. This time he tackles football as he describes the evolution of the sport into a game for gargantuan physical specimens with phenomenal speed and agility. Of special interest to many teams is a monster left tackle who can protect the quarterback's "blind side" in passing situations. One true story in the book revolves around black, sixteen-year-old Michael Oher from Memphis. Oher is not just big; he is huge. One of thirteen children, he is raised at times by his mother, who is a cocaine addict, and a string of stepfathers. Growing up in the poorest sections of Memphis, he at one point in his young life does not know his real name and cannot read or write. Oher, however, may have found a way out of a less-than-promising life when he starts to go to school and takes up football, showing promise as a left tackle. Oher's change of luck is due to a rich, Evangelican, Republican family who rescues him from the streets and shows him love. In his story of Oher, Lewis also profiles the family that took him long before he seemed destined for football stardom. As Oher's talents become apparent, the author provides an inside look at college recruiters who, with less than honorable intentions for the welfare of Oher, try to recruit him to their respective college football programs.

"Michael Lewis is a splendid and exceptional writer," wrote George W. Hunt in a review of The Blind Side in America. "What creates the splendor is his gift for narrative pace, for sly wit, for the telling detail, for the clarity and verve of his sentences." Noting that the author "offers a penetrating tale of how the once-overlooked position [left tackle] has won a lofty status," Mark Hyman went on to write in the same review in Business Week that The Blind Side "is an engrossing, if anguished, story of serendipity and salvation."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bestsellers 90, Volume 2, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1990, pp. 50-51.

Lewis, Michael, Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life. W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2005.

PERIODICALS

America, January 29, 2007, George W. Hunt, "Incredible Hulk," review of The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, p. 24.

American Enterprise, November-December, 1997, Jesse Walker, review of Trail Fever: Spin Doctors, Rented Strangers, Thumb Wrestlers, Toe Suckers, Grizzly Bears, and Other Creatures on the Road to the White House, p. 80.

American Prospect, March 27, 2000, Robert Elder, Jr., review of The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, p. 77; October, 2003, "The American Game," p. 39.

Antioch Review, fall, 2003, Kyle Minor, review of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, p. 783.

Atlantic Monthly, November, 2006, review of The Blind Side, p. 124.

Biography, spring, 2007, George F. Will, review of The Blind Side, p. 286.

Book, September, 2001, Eric Wargo, review of Next: The Future Just Happened, p. 79; July-August, 2003, Paul Evans, review of Moneyball, p. 77.

Booklist, May 15, 1997, Gilbert Taylor, review of Trail Fever, p. 1539; October 1, 1999, Brad Hooper, review of The New New Thing, p. 307; January 1, 2000, review of The New New Thing, p. 816; June 1, 2003, Kevin Canfield, review of Moneyball, p. 1727; October 15, 2006, Wes Lukowsky, review of The Blind Side, p. 4.

Business Week, October 21, 1991, Gary Weiss, review of The Money Culture, p. 16; June 9, 2003, Mark Hyman, "Putting the Lie to Baseball's Big ‘Crisis,’" review of Moneyball, p. 24; October 30, 2006, "Rescued by the Gridiron," p. 130.

Christianity Today, April, 2007, Collin Hansen, review of The Blind Side, p. 86.

Corporate Counsel, January, 2007, Brian Zabcik, review of The Blind Side, p. 97.

Economist, November 18, 1989, review of Liar's Poker: Rising through the Wreckage on Wall Street, p. 107; July 19, 1997, review of Trail Fever, p. 7; September 30, 2006, "The Search for Supermen; American Football," review of The Blind Side, p. 95.

Entertainment Weekly, October 6, 2006, Jennifer Reese, review of The Blind Side, p. 73.

Esquire, July, 2003, Chris Jones, "Big Important Book of the Month," review of Moneyball, p. 24.

Fast Company, August, 2001, Polly LaBarre, "What Comes Next?," p. 36; August, 2003, Polly LaBarre, review of Moneyball, p. 48.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2003, review of Moneyball, p. 589.

Latin Trade, February, 2000, Andres Herandez Alende, review of The New New Thing, p. 68.

Law Firm Inc, October 30, 2003, "Lean 'n Mean."

Library Journal, June 15, 1997, Thomas H. Ferrell, review of Trail Fever, p. 85; December, 1999, Norman B. Hutcherson, review of The New New Thing, p. 154; February 1, 2003, Paul Kaplan, review of Moneyball, p. 89.

Michigan Law Review, May, 2004, Richard H. Thaler, review of Moneyball, p. 1390.

Nation, December 24, 1990, Richard Parker, review of Liar's Poker, p. 817.

Newsweek, May 12, 2003, Devin Gordon, "How to Build a Ballclub: A Best-selling Journalist on the Secrets of Oakland," review of Moneyball, p. 58.

New York Times, May 12, 2003, Janet Maslin, "Three Strikes You're out at the New Ballgame," p. 6.

New York Times Book Review, October 29, 1989, Richard L. Stern, review of Liar's Poker, p. 39; September 30, 1990, review of Liar's Poker, p. 46; May 24, 1992, Frank Gibney, review of Pacific Rift: Adventures in the Fault Zone between the U.S. and Japan, pp. 10-12; August 12, 2001, review of Next, p. 26; May 26, 2002, Scott Veale, review of Next, p. 20; November 12, 2006, George F. Will, "The Next Big Thing," review of The Blind Side, p. 12.

People, June 23, 1997, Kyle Smith, review of Trail Fever, p. 38.

PR Week, July 7, 2003, Matthew Creamer, review of Moneyball, p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, May 12, 1997, review of Trail Fever, p. 65; September 27, 1999, review of The New New Thing, p. 81; July 9, 2001, review of Next, p. 60; April 28, 2003, review of Moneyball, p. 59; April 4, 2005, review of Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life, p. 53; August 28, 2006, review of The Blind Side, p. 45.

Reason, December, 2003, Matt Welch, "Balls: The Joy of Watching Ideas Win," review of Moneyball, p. 71.

Report, January 20, 2003, review of Next, p. 59.

Spectator, September 18, 2004, Ed Smith, "Thinking and Winning," review of Moneyball, p. 50; November 11, 2006, Ed Smith "Winning against the Odds," review of The Blind Side.

Time, November 6, 1989, Stefan Kanfer, review of Liar's Poker, p. 103; February 19, 1990, John Greenwald, review of Liar's Poker, p. 71; July 7, 1997, Tamala Edwards, review of Trail Fever, p. 109.

Times Literary Supplement, February 9, 1990, Margaret Bradham, review of Liar's Poker, p. 140; February 28, 1992, Susan Lee, review of The Money Culture, pp. 5-6.

Tribune Books (Chicago), November 26, 1989, review of Liar's Poker, p. 6; October 14, 1990, review of Liar's Poker, p. 8.

Washington Monthly, November, 1999, Elise Ackerman, review of The New New Thing, p. 49.

Washington Post Book World, March 3, 1991, George Gilder, review of Pacific Rift, pp. 11-12.

ONLINE

Literati.net,http://literati.net/ (February 9, 2008), profile of author.