Charles R. Morris

Charles Richard Morris (October 23, 1939 – December 13, 2021) was an American lawyer, banker, and author. He wrote fifteen books, and was a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic Monthly.

Personal life Morris was born in Oakland, California . His father Charles B. Morris worked as a technician in an ink factory, and his mother Mildred was a housewife. Morris attended the Mother of the Savior Seminary in Blackwood, New Jersey, and completed a bachelor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963.

Morris married Beverly Gilligan Morris and they had three children.

Career After graduation, Morris decided to work for the New Jersey state government, serving as director of the office of economic opportunity from 1965 to 1969. He then moved to the New York City government, where he worked as assistant budget director and welfare director. He simultaneously studied at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, graduating in 1972. With his experience, he was hired by the state of Washington Around August 2000, Morris was named Chief Operating Officer. By November 2001, he also served as President of the company. Morris remained with the company until 2004; its business allowed him to see the rise of credit derivative trading, leading to his Meltdown books.

Books A Rabble of Dead Money: The Great Crash and the Global Depression: 1929–1939 (2017) Comeback: America's New Economic Boom (2013) The Dawn of Innovation: The First American Industrial Revolution (2012) The Sages: Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and the Maelstrom of Markets (2009) The Trillion Dollar Meltdown (2008); The Surgeons: Life and Death in a Top Heart Center (2007) The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy (2005) Money, Greed, and Risk: Why Financial Crises and Crashes Happen (1999) American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America's Most Powerful Church (1997) Computer Wars: The Fall of IBM and the Future of Western Technology (1993, with Charles H. Ferguson) The Coming Global Boom (1990) Iron Destinies, Lost Opportunities: The Arms Race Between the United States and the Soviet Union, 1945–1987 (1988) A Time of Passion: America, 1960–1980 (1985) The Cost of Good Intentions: New York City and the Liberal Experiment (1981)

Film Morris appears in the 2010 Oscar-winning documentary film Inside Job.