The Bold Riders: Behind Australia's Corporate Collapses
Business History Corporate Finance Corporate Governance Economic Policy Economic Sociology Australian Economics True Crime Business Financial Journalism
Trevor Sykes’ 672-page classic, The Bold Riders: Behind Australia’s Corporate Collapses, is the definitive insider chronicle of the 1980s and early-1990s booms that wiped billions off the national ledger. Written by Australia’s most respected financial journalist, this 1996 Allen & Unwin paperback dissects the rise and spectacular fall of household names such as Bond, Skase, Connell and Elliott, exposing the debt-fuelled takeovers, creative accounting and political favours that let empires balloon and burst. Sykes combines courtroom-level detail with newspaper-paced narrative, so readers gain both a forensic understanding of receivership mechanics and the human drama of fortunes vaporised overnight.
What makes this book highly sought-after today is its continuing relevance: every Royal Commission or corporate failure still echoes the governance gaps Sykes identified decades ago. Students of economics, finance, business law and economic sociology use it as a primary text because it illustrates how regulatory settings, media hype and cultural cronyism interact to produce systemic risk. The author’s trademark wit and clarity turn complex balance-sheet alchemy into gripping storytelling, making the volume equally prized by collectors, investors and general readers who want to recognise the warning signs of the next boom-bust cycle.
This well-preserved second-hand copy is clean, tightly bound and free of marginalia, dog-ears or smoke odour, ensuring it can sit proudly on a scholar’s shelf or be confidently gifted to anyone researching Australian corporate history. At 740 g and 215 mm high, it is substantial but still portable for seminar or beach reading. With the ISBN 9781864481846 now long out of print, securing a crisp, unmarked paperback is increasingly difficult—grab this copy while it is still available to own the authoritative record of Australia’s most colourful boardroom disasters.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
Buy Now