Americans are taught to believe that upward mobility is possible for anyone who is willing to work hard, regardless of their social status, yet it is often those from affluent backgrounds who land the best jobs. Pedigree takes readers behind the closed doors of top-tier investment banks, consulting firms, and law firms to reveal the truth about who really gets hired for the nation's highest-paying entry-level jobs, who doesn’t, and why.
Drawing on scores of in-depth interviews as well as firsthand observation of hiring practices at some of America’s most prestigious firms, Lauren Rivera shows how, at every step of the hiring process, the ways that employers define and evaluate merit are strongly skewed to favor job applicants from economically privileged backgrounds. She reveals how decision makers draw from ideas about talent—what it is, what best signals it, and who does (and does not) have it—that are deeply rooted in social class. Displaying the "right stuff" that elite employers are looking for entails considerable amounts of economic, social, and cultural resources on the part of the applicants and their parents.
Challenging our most cherished beliefs about college as a great equalizer and the job market as a level playing field, Pedigree exposes the class biases built into American notions about the best and the brightest, and shows how social status plays a significant role in determining who reaches the top of the economic ladder.

有人认为投资市场的前很容易捞，只要你是「画饼」高手……
股市大盗以虚设公司、交互持股等方式灌充公司业绩，拉台公司股价，诓骗法人、散户进行投资，再以内线交易出脱持股……本书以小说故事还原新闻原貌，重现华尔街四大天王共谋的数十亿内线交易案内幕。
本书作者荣获 1992 年普立兹奖，经过深入调查与锲而不舍的追踪探问，终于抽丝剥茧地，揭露了华尔街有史以来的最大宗内线交易的丑闻案，并一举起出由四大天王共谋的数十亿 违约交割的经过，卒令邪不胜正，应验了中国人的智慧警语：天网恢恢，疏而不漏。情节紧凑，剧力万钧，引人入胜，是一本读罢依然令你不舍得搁手的好书。

From 1993 to 1999 an astounding $2 trillion worth of corporate assets changed hands. Legendary deal-maker Bruce Wasserstein looks at why it happened, how it happened, and who were the key players in a decade of colossal buyouts and mergers. With new material that spotlights recent blockbuster deals, Wasserstein brilliantly shows how the current era compares to the years before it, how technology and government affect these mega-mergers and buy-outs, and most importantly, what it means for readersand for their future.