Whirlwind: The Butcher Banking Scandal

The true story of brothers, Jake and C.H. Butcher Jr., who rose from the poor rural countryside of Union County in the mountains of East Tennessee, to become masters of a multi-billion dollar banking empire.

Their lives of wealth and the power it bought created a whirlwind of greed and lavish spending rarely seen in today's world.

At the height of Jake Butcher's reign as chairman of the Knoxville's World's Fair, the house of Butcher fell like a house of cards, culminating in the third largest banking failure in our nation's history.

Hundreds of individuals and institutions were ruined in the Butcher debacle fanning a dismal decade of suicides and destruction, along with prison terms for the Butcher brothers and their associates.

Now, released from federal prison and under a sentence of bankruptcy for life, the brothers are "Back on top again," mastering million dollar deals and billion dollar dreams on borrowed money and borrowed time.

Reviews:

Frankly, I feel I just have to dispute the above negative review(s). I have severe reservations about writing a public review myself, but having re-read the book a second time, I simply feel it is my civic duty at this point to do so. I just cannot justifiably let this go without investing my own 2ยข into the pot. The review that I most question was OBVIOUSLY made by someone who has a personal interest in this ONGOING saga, and who also OBVIOUSLY has a personal interest in discrediting this author's integrity. To each his own, I guess... We all have our opinions. Some of us are just a bit more objective than others about this "situation" involving these present-day ECONOMIC TERRORISTS. Yes, I said it - ECONOMIC TERRORISTS!!! That's all they are. C.H. Butcher may be dead and gone, but some of the remaining characters are still on the prowl among us. This is something everyone in America should be aware of... that there ARE enemies among us... and these smooth-talking people, with thier corruption, contempt, and total disregard for the law and all moral standards (not to mention thier ***continuing*** antics) cost us ALL in the long run. How many more VICTIMS must lose thier life savings to these guys before they are finally stopped? How many more innocent "investors" must be stomped on before someone stomps back? This book is an education to all about the true evils that lurk among us. True, "Whirlwind" is not Stephen King fiction... its not supposed to be.... its not intended as entertainment... This is a ***real life*** horror story. There are no talking aardvarks or child ghosts with death bells ... These people are merely real-life "sub-human" rodents with real names and real faces and real plans to take care of themselves financially at the expense of ANYONE who happens to have something they desire to take for their own. I personally found the book to be a WONDERFUL informational resource. I could honestly care less what was named after who, but the details of the ***actual financial scandals*** (which is, after all, what the book is about) add up to MY OWN research of the subject 120%. ECONOMIC TERRORISM. The information in this book has MORE than assisted me in my own research and involvement with this particular subject, and I have absolutely NO complaints about it, whatsoever. I have read the book word-for-word, page-by-page and concept-for-concept. Twice. I have done my own research and the integrity of this book is dead on. So there were a few mistakes overlooked by the editor. So what? The information, research and knowledge contained within the covers is outstanding!!!... regardless of any typos or unintentional editorial omissions. So it jumps back and forth between timelines... Again... so what? I see no other possible way to have conveyed this story in any other manner that would have been any more "understandable" to the general public. Joe Q. Public is exactly who these people target. There are so many 100's of facets to this story that it just wouldn't make any sense at all if written in any other way. Its not a game, but a story of how these people literally TERRORIZED the American financial system (and still do). The important FACTS of the matter are reittereated when necessary, and the storyline "rewound" when needed. Every chapter, every sentence, every word speaks TRUTH. This TRUTH is hard to understand unless one truly understands the players, the timeline and the DETAILS. It simply HAD to be written the way it was to get the understanding of the characters involved. Without this understanding, the book would be utterly useless. I would LOVE to see a sequel someday soon. I can't wait to see what they might be up to now. Well done, Sandra. Keep the information coming.

The Knoxville Reader/Reporter critized the author for saying the Gymnasium at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate is named for Cecil H. Butcher, Sr. The reviewer/reporter stated that the Knoxville news' reporters did a better job presenting the facts on this issue, and I agree, they did a fine job. However, I have posted a copy of the news article from The Knoxville Journal, dated November 1, 1983, on my website, www.whirl.biz, (Information Exchange/Document Library), which describes the gymnasium as the "Butcher Gymnasium at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate."

I agree with the previous reviewer. Where was the editor? And not all of the author's information is correct. Lincoln Memorial University's old gym is Mary E. Mars gym and the new arena is named the Tex Turner Arena - neither named for the Butcher's. This is an incredible story as I remember the rise and fall of this family - however, the Knoxville News Sentinel's reports were better written and more accurate than this book and that's a shame. The book is not inexpensive, either.

Sandra Lea's book is--at times--entertaining and informative. It certainly has the veneer of believablilty to those of us who lived through the collapse of the banking empire of Jake and CH Butcher back in the early '80's. There are NO sources cited, however--no notes, no references, no biliography, nothing--that might lend this book some historical credibility. Clearly, much of the book's material comes from court records--I can't fathom that anyone would speak so stiltedly to another human being in an interview--but which court? Whose trial? The book is packed with essentialy unusable information from a research standpoint, because none of it is backed up with hard evidence. Who is this Sandra Lea? She has not included anything in the book that might establish her credentials. Why has she written this book? Is she a financial researcher? A local historian? A former depositor with a personal vendetta?Worse, Lea's writing jumps through the history it discloses most haphazardly. First it's 1973, then 1982, then 1984. We read passages from before the 1982 World's Fair, then the subsequent fall of the Butchers in 83 and 84, then jump back to have a scene of Jake wooing exhibitors for the Fair. It's as if she never had an editor look over the work, as if she simply wrote down everything she found out. It's such a SHAME, too! The story is so interesting, so naturally dramatic on its own, that, written well, this book could be of interest to everyone in the US, rather than merely the targeted local Tennessee population that its typesetting, printing, and binding belie.