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Ex-Goldman Exec’s Memoir Panned

Says “toxic” atmosphere forced him to quit.

If there’s a bad review of a tell-all about Wall Street, does it matter? That’s what publishers will be asking after The New York Times panned a book by ex–Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith, who quit in spectacular fashion in an opinion piece in the Times. His book, Why I Left Goldman Sachs, goes on sale Monday, and the Times describes it as “curiously short on facts” and says there are almost no examples of the so-called toxic atmosphere that caused him to pen the piece in the first place—aside from the now-infamous way managing directors called their clients “muppets.” Also problematic? Smith says the book is “from memory” and he tries to “retain the spirit of what actually happened”—and the Times finds several inconsistencies.