It's been just over a year since the credit meltdown rocked the world, and we're seeing lots of journalists weigh in with polished first drafts of history. Andrew Ross Sorkin, of the New York Times, and Charles Gasparino, of CNBC, have gotten a lot of attention recently. Their spat has likely been good for publicity. 

But an interesting effort comes from U.S. Banker, which offers a long look at what exactly happened to Wachovia. To its credit the bank was essentially planning for a major change even before Lehman Brothers collapsed. It was summarized for counsel but the memo was short, reflecting the sense that the bank would never be forced to that point of failure. How wrong they were.

In the end a bailout deal was the only option, and the bank held talks with the likes of Morgan Stanley (MS), Goldman Sachs (GS) and of course Citigroup (C). Goldman was serious about it. They went to the government with the idea. A major concern was how it would look, with so many Goldman Sachs folks involved at every level. In the end, no one felt comfortable. 

For more:
- here's the article

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