The Smartest Guys in the Room (book)

{{short description|2003 non-fiction book}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Smartest Guys in the Room

| title_orig = The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron

| translator =

| image = The Smartest Guys in the Room (book).jpg

| caption =

| author = Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind

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| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| subject = Corporate Law, Ethics, fall of Enron

| genre = Non-Fiction

| publisher = Portfolio Trade

| pub_date = October 13, 2003

| english_pub_date =

| media_type = Hardcover

| pages = 464

| isbn = 978-1-59184-053-4

| oclc =

| dewey =

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}}

The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron is a book by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, first published in 2003 by Portfolio Trade. In 2005, it was adapted into a documentary film, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.

McLean and Elkind worked on the book when they both were Fortune senior writers. McLean had written a March 5, 2001 article for Fortune called, "Is Enron overpriced?"{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2006/01/13/news/companies/enronoriginal_fortune/|title=Fortune archive: Is Enron Overpriced? – Jan. 19, 2006|author=|date=|website=money.cnn.com|accessdate=12 December 2017}}

The book is not only about the Enron scandal, but also describes the authors' effort in following the developing story as it happened. It is based on hundreds of interviews and details from personal calendars, performance reviews, e-mails, and other documents. BusinessWeek called it, "The best book about the Enron debacle to date."{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2003-10-26/enron-under-two-microscopes|title=Enron Under Two Microscopes|author=|newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=27 October 2003|publisher=|accessdate=12 December 2017|via=www.bloomberg.com}}

It hit the New York Times bestseller list{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/books/best-sellers-november-16-2003.html|title=Best Sellers: November 16, 2003|author=|work=The New York Times |date=16 November 2003|publisher=|accessdate=12 December 2017|via=NYTimes.com}} and was named one of strategy+business magazine's best business books of 2003.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1554543|title=The Best Business Books of 2003|author=|date=|website=npr.org|accessdate=12 December 2017}}