John Kenneth Galbraith's now-classic account of the 1929 stock market collapse, The Great Crash remains the definitive book on the most disastrous cycle of boom and bust in modern times. The Great Crash 1929 examines the causes, effects, aftermath and long-term consequences of America's infamous financial meltdown, showing how rampant speculation and blind optimism sustained a market mania, and led to its terrible downward spiral. Galbraith also describes the people and the corporations at the heart of the financial ...
Read More
John Kenneth Galbraith's now-classic account of the 1929 stock market collapse, The Great Crash remains the definitive book on the most disastrous cycle of boom and bust in modern times. The Great Crash 1929 examines the causes, effects, aftermath and long-term consequences of America's infamous financial meltdown, showing how rampant speculation and blind optimism sustained a market mania, and led to its terrible downward spiral. Galbraith also describes the people and the corporations at the heart of the financial community, and how they were affected by the disaster. With its depiction of the 'gold-rush fantasy' ingrained in America's psychology, this penetrating study of human greed and folly contains lessons that are still vital today - and are now more relevant than ever. 'Lively and highly readable' Financial Times 'Galbraith is a considerable writer - admonitory, ironic, patrician, funny' Guardian 'The definitive work on the subject' Daily Mail 'A book you will read at a single sitting' Prospect 'One of the most engrossing books I have ever read' Daily Telegraph John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006) was a Canadian-American economist. A Keynesian and an institutionalist, Galbraith was a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism and progressivism. Galbraith was the author of 30 books, including The Economics of Innocent Fraud, The Great Crash: 1929, and A History of Economics.
Read Less
This book may be about the crash of 1929 but Galbraith describes all the idiotic behaviours of 2008 too. The financial scams may change but the stupid behaviour of greedy fools does not.
Highly recommended.
rat101
Dec 21, 2009
Large Fortunes on Wall Street
There's good reason why this is a classic. It's a glorious description of the past & it applies exactly to 10/08 as if it had been written in the last few months. I'm sure it will apply equally well for the next financial melt-down since no matter how smart we are in formulating defensive laws, the financial industry is even smarter about getting around them. Galbraith's sense of humor is terrific - he must have been wonderful in class. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at his decription Herbert Hoover's perfection the business meeting where no business is done. Anyone who want's to even remotely understand the present just has to read this little gem from the past.
BigJer
Jan 1, 2009
Disappointing!
Used NY Times Stock Index to show how the market was changing by giving the # of points it was changing without indicating the % change or what the actual Index # was.
I gave up about 3/4 way through. I expected a little more detail of what was happening but got very little to keep me reading it
