Last September, as panic hit and Wall Street began to crumble, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis agreed to swallow Merrill Lynch and its spiraling losses. In "The Final Days of Merill Lynch," in the September issue of The Atlantic, William D. Cohan reveals the coercive role played by the Fed and the Treasury: What exactly happened in the weeks leading up to the merger? Did the deal save us all from economic apocalypse? And what do the government’s unprecedented actions portend for the future of our economy?

William D. Cohan was on the Leonard Lopate Show on May 25, 2009, to discuss his book, House of Cards. You can listen to that interview here.