<p>Meet David Denby, an American sucker indeed.</p>
<p>Thursday, January 8, 2004 12:01 a.m.</p>
<p>Even now, reading about the Internet stock-mania remains painful. So many people got torched, and many of them are still red-faced about the mistakes they made. The lingering shame may explain why the era has yet to deliver its "Den of Thieves" or "Liar's Poker," the defining books about Wall Street in the 1980s. In that earlier period of excess, most folks observed the Ivan Boeskys from afar. This time just about everyone found himself at least ankle-deep in the muck. And nobody really wants to read about his own foolishness. Or write about it.</p>