Michael Milken

Milken works at the Wall Street firm of Drexel Firestone, as the book opens. He spends two hours commuting to work via bus from his Cherry Hill, New Jersey home. He does so to avoid having to talk to other Wall Street people that he might meet. Milken is not a social climber. He had been raised in a middle class Jewish home and did not care what kind of car he drove or what kind of clothes he wore. He was interested in bonds. Milken came from Encino in the San Fernando Valley and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968 with a major in business administration. After marrying Lori, he went to Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania where he obtained an MBA degree. He works at Drexel part-time while attending Wharton and then full-time at its Wall Street office...