I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay by John Lanchester; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator James Langton

John Lanchester's brilliant survey of the current financial crisis explains how the booming global economy collapsed seemingly overnight.

The wildest story in the world these days is not fiction; it's what's really happening all around us as the world's global economy has gone into freefall. How did we get here? What does it all mean? How could so many smart people be so dumb and believe their own hype?

Accessibly, cleverly, and with mordant humor, journalist John Lanchester trots the globe in search of the answers to these questions-to Iceland, the scene of catastrophic bank collapse; to Hong Kong, the city of his birth built at the altar of free-market capitalism; to the high-stakes leveraging of Wall Street; and to the tragedy of lost homes in small-town America. And in his capable hands, we see and understand what went wrong and why.

Lanchester believes that the current crisis gives us an opportunity to bring about much-needed change and that a stronger and more compassionate system can emerge from the wreckage.

"A fine introduction to the latest financial frenzy, with a suitable degree of outrage."—The Wall Street Journal

"Laypeople seeking to understand the crisis, and what it means for their own bank account, will find Lanchester’s volume an oasis of understanding in a sea of partisan spin and convoluted financial language."—Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"Warning to bankers everywhere in the world. You better buy every single copy of I.O.U. because Lanchester's painted the target on you that the rest of us so desperately wanted to see."—James J. Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money

John Lanchester is the prizewinning author of three novels: The Debt to Pleasure, Mr. Phillips, and Fragrant Harbour, as well as a family memoir. He is also a journalist whose work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the Times of London, and the New York Times.

James Langton trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. An AudioFile Earphones Award winner, he has performed many voice-overs and narrated numerous audiobooks, including the international bestseller The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud by Julia Navarro, The Virtues of War by Steven Pressfield, and The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. He is also a professional musician who led the internationally renowned Pasadena Roof Orchestra from 1996 to 2002. James was born in York, England, and is now based in New York City.