本书是作者以自己的亲身经历，记录了华尔街著名投资银行摩根士丹利，是怎样把一个耶鲁法学院的高才生，培养成了一名商场上的射击手。这些射击手，坐着飞机头等舱，出入豪华酒店，与世界各国的大公司交易着由世界顶级数学家、物理学家设计出来的金融产品。无数自以为非常成功的企业家和企业职业经理们，在只理解了华尔街出产的金融产品的一些皮毛后，就将几十亿美金送进了摩根士丹利的口袋。
在华尔街，如果有人说你是个好人，他的言外之意就是你是个笨蛋。对于大多数金融产品而言，买卖双方的盈亏之和等于零，也就是说一方的利润就是另一方的损失。本书作者所在的部门平均每人每年为公司赚1500万美元。书中提到的许多美国著名公司都是这些利润背后的牺牲品。
随着中国进入WTO，中国的金融市场也在快速地与国际金融接轨。在这重要的历史时期，本书几乎就是一本教科书。它教我们提高对金融产品的风险认识，防止华尔街银行家们利用我们对金融产品的无知来收学费。
前一时期发生的中航油事件，和摩根士丹利在中国收购的第一笔银行不良资产，都应该让我们深深地叹口气：要是早点读读《诚信的背后》就好了。

The bestselling author of the acclaimed House of Cards and The Last Tycoons turns his spotlight on to Goldman Sachs and the controversy behind its success.
From the outside, Goldman Sachs is a perfect company. The Goldman PR machine loudly declares it to be smarter, more ethical, and more profitable than all of its competitors. Behind closed doors, however, the firm constantly straddles the line between conflict of interest and legitimate deal making, wields significant influence over all levels of government, and upholds a culture of power struggles and toxic paranoia. And its clever bet against the mortgage market in 2007—unknown to its clients—may have made the financial ruin of the Great Recession worse. Money and Power reveals the internal schemes that have guided the bank from its founding through its remarkable windfall during the 2008 financial crisis. Through extensive research and interviews with the inside players, including current CEO Lloyd Blankfein, William Cohan constructs a nuanced, timely portrait of Goldman Sachs, the company that was too big—and too ruthless—to fail.