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All this week we're telling the stories behind the unraveling of our financial system in two minutes or less. Today, we look at the one year anniversary of investment giant Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy. This segment contains excerpts from an interview we conducted in July of this year with ...

All week long we are reviewing the year that was: the year that marked the beginning of the financial meltdown and the recession that we continue to live through. Today we are focusing on the $600 billion collapse of Lehman Brothers — the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. It’s a moment that many believe sent the global economy into crisis. To get a sense of the forces leading up to that day we speak with a Lehman Brothers’ insider, former vice president of distressed debt and convertible securities at Lehman Brothers, Lawrence McDonald. He's the author of the new book, A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers.

We also talk to our contributor Louise Story, finance reporter for the New York Times, about the collapse of Lehmann and the ensuing global financial crisis. Louise also tells us about the new spate of corporate mergers that could indicate the nation's economy is making the slow turn towards recovery.

Lawrence McDonald, former Lehman Brothers vice president, explains what happened at Lehman Brothers and why the financial services firm was allowed to fail. In A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, he reveals the ruthless, arrogant Wall Street culture and unspoken ...