Fidelity's World: The Secret Life and Public Power of the Mutual Fund Giant - Hardcover

Diana B. Henriques is an investigative business reporter for The New York Times.

There is something about mutual funds that seems warm and cozy, offering a spirit of cooperation and shared goals. Many funds even have their own "families." But as Henriques makes clear, mutual funds are a giant industry. She sounds several alarms regarding potential risks for investors and questions the accountability of mutual fund trustees and managers. Identified as an investigative business reporter, Henriques focuses on Fidelity Investments and its privately held parent, FMR Corporation, America's largest mutual fund company, with over two million investors putting $300 billion into its hands. She follows the birth and spectacular growth of Fidelity, singling out founder and CEO Edward Johnson III for particular attention. Neither Johnson nor his senior staff agreed to talk to Henriques, she having sniped at the firm over the last five years from the vantage of her New York Times Wall Street column. Instead, for source material, she relied on 60 years of documentary records and both on-the-record and confidential interviews with Fidelity "veterans." Given the size of Fidelity and the current interest in mutual funds, this should be a popular title. David Rouse