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Wall Street: A History
In the seven years since the publication of the first edition of Wall Street, America's financial industry has undergone a series of wrenching events that have dramatically changed the nation's economic landscape. The bull market of the 1990's came to a close, ushering in the end of the dot com boom, a record number of mergers occurred, and accounting scandals in companies like Enron and WorldCom shook the financial industry to its core.
In this wide-ranging volume, financial historian Charles Geisst provides the first history of Wall Street, explaining how a small, concentrated pocket of lower Manhattan came to have such enormous influence in national and world affairs. In this updated edition, Geisst sums up the recent turbulence that has threatened America's financial industry. He shows how in 1997 thirty NASDAQ market makers paid a record $1.3 billion fine for price irregularities in stocks. He makes sense of the closing of the bull market, and explains a major change in the accounting rules for mergers that caused monumental losses for companies like AOL Time Warner. And he recounts how in the aftermath of the speculative fever that swept Wall Street in the 1990's, the scandals at Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, and Conseco represent a last gasp of mergermania and a fallout from a bubble-like market.
Wall Street is at once the story of the street itself, from the days when the wall was merely a defensive barricade built by Peter Stuyvesant, to the modern billion-dollar computer-driven colossus of today. In a broader sense it is an engaging economic history of the United States, the role Wall Street played in making America the most powerful economy in the world, and the many challenges to that role it has faced in recent years.
In this wide-ranging volume, financial historian Charles Geisst provides the first history of Wall Street, explaining how a small, concentrated pocket of lower Manhattan came to have such enormous influence in national and world affairs. In this updated edition, Geisst sums up the recent turbulence that has threatened America's financial industry. He shows how in 1997 thirty NASDAQ market makers paid a record $1.3 billion fine for price irregularities in stocks. He makes sense of the closing of the bull market, and explains a major change in the accounting rules for mergers that caused monumental losses for companies like AOL Time Warner. And he recounts how in the aftermath of the speculative fever that swept Wall Street in the 1990's, the scandals at Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, and Conseco represent a last gasp of mergermania and a fallout from a bubble-like market.
Wall Street is at once the story of the street itself, from the days when the wall was merely a defensive barricade built by Peter Stuyvesant, to the modern billion-dollar computer-driven colossus of today. In a broader sense it is an engaging economic history of the United States, the role Wall Street played in making America the most powerful economy in the world, and the many challenges to that role it has faced in recent years.
545 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 18, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 20, 2015
The definitive history of Wall street investment banking. Great stories and details. Starts from the beginning and is very thorough and well-researched. Not a beach read.
December 31, 2008
This book took quite a bit of effort to get through. Although I understand the importance of investing for the future, the actual specifics of stocks, bonds, securities, etc, bore the pants off me. The minutiae of brokering and trading holds no appeal to me, much to the chagrin of my wife.
However, I am a history buff, and I read this book with the hope it would shed some light on a subject I know next to nothing about. I hoped to read of the great characters who made their fortunes on the Street, and in many cases lost them. I was also curious as to how Wall Street got its start, its name, and its practices.
Unfortunately, Charles Geisst, a Professor of Finance in the School of Business at Manhattan College, doesn’t write with much flair or sizzle. Good history books come alive and read almost like a novel. While informative, the book was rather boring and very slow. Add to that Geisst’s use of investment jargon that novices (such as myself) don’t understand, and the result is a ponderous, textbook-like history book.
However, I did found out how Wall Street got its name. The street was originally a thoroughfare that ran beside a wall designed to protect lower Manhattan from unfriendly Indians. The original investors met in the street, outdoors, to trade and bargain.
Geisst traces the history of Wall Street from 1790 through 1996, covering the major players such as William Duer, judge, member of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Articles of Confederation. After making a quick fortune in land speculation, he landed in debtor’s prison, bankrupt. A close friend of Alexander Hamilton, who at one point intervened in his behalf, he was perhaps the first celebrity merchant. Duer, before his fall, moved in the most fashionable and influential circles. He was a portent of the Goulds, Cookes and Morgans yet to come.
Geisst covers the so-called robber barons, Wall Street’s reaction to New Deal regulations, and generally laments the lack of government oversight over Wall Street for much of its history. While he goes into great, mind-numbing detail of the inner machinations and nefarious deals, he neglects to mention how great the country was doing during this time. He leaves the impression that Wall Street is a hidden, exclusive bastion of greed and corruption, untouched by the outside world. He blames Wall Street for the Great Depression and other recessions, but gives it little credit for the unprecedented creation of wealth that has made the U.S. the richest nation in history. Shockingly, he completely ignores the rise of the investor class in recent years, some 50 million Americans who now own their own piece of the Street through 401(k)’s, IRA’s, etc.
Despite the book’s faults, and tediousness, I’m glad I read it. Any Wall Street buff would enjoy it.
However, I am a history buff, and I read this book with the hope it would shed some light on a subject I know next to nothing about. I hoped to read of the great characters who made their fortunes on the Street, and in many cases lost them. I was also curious as to how Wall Street got its start, its name, and its practices.
Unfortunately, Charles Geisst, a Professor of Finance in the School of Business at Manhattan College, doesn’t write with much flair or sizzle. Good history books come alive and read almost like a novel. While informative, the book was rather boring and very slow. Add to that Geisst’s use of investment jargon that novices (such as myself) don’t understand, and the result is a ponderous, textbook-like history book.
However, I did found out how Wall Street got its name. The street was originally a thoroughfare that ran beside a wall designed to protect lower Manhattan from unfriendly Indians. The original investors met in the street, outdoors, to trade and bargain.
Geisst traces the history of Wall Street from 1790 through 1996, covering the major players such as William Duer, judge, member of the Continental Congress, and signer of the Articles of Confederation. After making a quick fortune in land speculation, he landed in debtor’s prison, bankrupt. A close friend of Alexander Hamilton, who at one point intervened in his behalf, he was perhaps the first celebrity merchant. Duer, before his fall, moved in the most fashionable and influential circles. He was a portent of the Goulds, Cookes and Morgans yet to come.
Geisst covers the so-called robber barons, Wall Street’s reaction to New Deal regulations, and generally laments the lack of government oversight over Wall Street for much of its history. While he goes into great, mind-numbing detail of the inner machinations and nefarious deals, he neglects to mention how great the country was doing during this time. He leaves the impression that Wall Street is a hidden, exclusive bastion of greed and corruption, untouched by the outside world. He blames Wall Street for the Great Depression and other recessions, but gives it little credit for the unprecedented creation of wealth that has made the U.S. the richest nation in history. Shockingly, he completely ignores the rise of the investor class in recent years, some 50 million Americans who now own their own piece of the Street through 401(k)’s, IRA’s, etc.
Despite the book’s faults, and tediousness, I’m glad I read it. Any Wall Street buff would enjoy it.
November 26, 2019
A little dry (more so in some parts than others) but an extremely comprehensive and helpful (I think) history of this important sector of the economy from ~1790-2010.
August 13, 2018
Prior to reading this book, my exposure to the history of finance in the U.S. has been limited to the impact of major economic phenomena such as the Roaring 20’s or the Great Depression on American history. This book has been my first exposure to a comprehensive history of finance, focused not on its interplay with the history of the nation but on the progression of historical change within finance. It is quite the narrative, featuring the whole range of human qualities, both good and evil: innovation, greed, fraud, philanthropy, patriotism, hubris, envy, malice, . . .
I found interesting that the amount of misconduct in the finance industry during the 19th century garnered little public censure. Shenanigans on display included:
• Using the press to talk down the price of a stock so it could be bought up at a bargain, enabling the perpetrator(s) to take over a company
• Cornering a market for the purpose of price gouging in the absence of competition
• Using underwriting of government bonds as a profiteering opportunity (in other words, excessive profit at the expense of the issuer and purchasers of the bonds)
In other words, private financiers were manipulating the economy for personal gain, sometimes causing downturns, known as panics. As I read about this, I wondered how the public tolerated this came up with two possible explanations:
• The country still had a frontier at this time, and pioneers would pack up their lives and move off into the unknown, risking their livelihoods and even their own lives in the process. At one level, the world of finance was merely a different type of risk taking in the quest for a better situation in life.
• The harsh living and working conditions of the industrial revolution in the U.S in conjunction with the conspicuous consumption of the industrial class may have contributed to an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Given that the strong grass-roots criticism of finance didn’t appear to start until the very late 1800’s, I consider both explanations as good candidates. This discussion is beyond the purview of the book but felt it appropriate to bring it up on account of the apparent negative view the author holds regarding this time period based on his tone.
Something else that caught my attention was the similarities between the roaring 20’s and the run-up to the market crash near the end of the George W. Bush administration. I was aware that the stock market crash of 1929 and its aftermath deflated a bubble in stock prices and from other reading had learned that the crash in 2006-2008 deflated a leverage-fueled bubble in mortgage-backed securities. My other reading had also taught me that linkages in the U.S. and global economies, many unrecognized until it was too late, allowed the mortgage bubble deflation to destabilize the entire economy. In like manner, a leverage-fueled bubble in stocks almost destroyed the economy in 1929. Commercial banks often lent depositor money to stock speculators; when stock prices crashed, these high-rolling speculators couldn’t pay back the loans, prompting bank failures that wiped out the savings of people who could ill afford the loss. I cannot fault the public outrage that this provoked.
Among other things, I am a free-market conservative and have often heard the expression “other people’s money” in reference to tax dollars wasted by politicians on boondoggles to gain the favor of voters. In this book, I saw it used in a different context, that of speculators getting their hands on other people’s money so they could use it to speculate (gamble) on the stock market. In fact, Lous Brandeis published Other People's Money And How the Bankers Use It about this behavior in 1914 and republished it in 1933. What lesson did I learn from this? Ultimately, I can trust neither big finance or big government. Both are existential threats to my well-being and freedom. Sometimes they walk in lockstep as a result of influence peddling; sometimes, they are in conflict. When this happens, why can’t they both lose?
Although Professor Geisst is more supportive of government regulation than I am, I have difficulty in faulting him on account of the behavior of financiers over the years. There had been a gradual deregulation of finance starting in the Reagan administration, and Wall Street did not act responsibly with its new freedom. It got reckless and nearly ran the economy into a ditch. Business leaders who should have regulated their own behavior proved incapable of doing so without a kindergarten cop looking over their shoulders. Disgusting! A pox on all their houses.
I found interesting that the amount of misconduct in the finance industry during the 19th century garnered little public censure. Shenanigans on display included:
• Using the press to talk down the price of a stock so it could be bought up at a bargain, enabling the perpetrator(s) to take over a company
• Cornering a market for the purpose of price gouging in the absence of competition
• Using underwriting of government bonds as a profiteering opportunity (in other words, excessive profit at the expense of the issuer and purchasers of the bonds)
In other words, private financiers were manipulating the economy for personal gain, sometimes causing downturns, known as panics. As I read about this, I wondered how the public tolerated this came up with two possible explanations:
• The country still had a frontier at this time, and pioneers would pack up their lives and move off into the unknown, risking their livelihoods and even their own lives in the process. At one level, the world of finance was merely a different type of risk taking in the quest for a better situation in life.
• The harsh living and working conditions of the industrial revolution in the U.S in conjunction with the conspicuous consumption of the industrial class may have contributed to an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Given that the strong grass-roots criticism of finance didn’t appear to start until the very late 1800’s, I consider both explanations as good candidates. This discussion is beyond the purview of the book but felt it appropriate to bring it up on account of the apparent negative view the author holds regarding this time period based on his tone.
Something else that caught my attention was the similarities between the roaring 20’s and the run-up to the market crash near the end of the George W. Bush administration. I was aware that the stock market crash of 1929 and its aftermath deflated a bubble in stock prices and from other reading had learned that the crash in 2006-2008 deflated a leverage-fueled bubble in mortgage-backed securities. My other reading had also taught me that linkages in the U.S. and global economies, many unrecognized until it was too late, allowed the mortgage bubble deflation to destabilize the entire economy. In like manner, a leverage-fueled bubble in stocks almost destroyed the economy in 1929. Commercial banks often lent depositor money to stock speculators; when stock prices crashed, these high-rolling speculators couldn’t pay back the loans, prompting bank failures that wiped out the savings of people who could ill afford the loss. I cannot fault the public outrage that this provoked.
Among other things, I am a free-market conservative and have often heard the expression “other people’s money” in reference to tax dollars wasted by politicians on boondoggles to gain the favor of voters. In this book, I saw it used in a different context, that of speculators getting their hands on other people’s money so they could use it to speculate (gamble) on the stock market. In fact, Lous Brandeis published Other People's Money And How the Bankers Use It about this behavior in 1914 and republished it in 1933. What lesson did I learn from this? Ultimately, I can trust neither big finance or big government. Both are existential threats to my well-being and freedom. Sometimes they walk in lockstep as a result of influence peddling; sometimes, they are in conflict. When this happens, why can’t they both lose?
Although Professor Geisst is more supportive of government regulation than I am, I have difficulty in faulting him on account of the behavior of financiers over the years. There had been a gradual deregulation of finance starting in the Reagan administration, and Wall Street did not act responsibly with its new freedom. It got reckless and nearly ran the economy into a ditch. Business leaders who should have regulated their own behavior proved incapable of doing so without a kindergarten cop looking over their shoulders. Disgusting! A pox on all their houses.
May 2, 2019
Wall Street: A History walks readers through the up and down story of Wall Street. Starting with Wall Street’s infancy, the book clumsily attempts to use a narrative format to convey how the U.S. stock and bond markets both shaped and were shaped by the historical arc of the United States. Author Charles R. Geisst utilizes at times confusing syntax and frequently writes economic anecdotes which unfold in a fashion likely to maintain the interest of only the most committed of readers.
Stories rich in narrative potential, such as Jay Gould’s efforts to corner the gold market in the 1870s, are somehow rendered less thrilling by the manner in which Geisst composes his work.. Though some of this shortcoming could have been smoothed over or outright eliminated by a more effective editor, it still robs Wall Street: A History of much of its ability to hook readers. Dishonest men like Gould would be joined a few centuries later on by the likes of Michael Milken, whose exploits in financial chicanery at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert demonstrated that greed is confined to no particular industry or century.
Much of the book focuses on the larger than life men who assisted in the evolution of the country’s economy. Tales of high flyers whose lavish beginnings do not end well begin early: the Washington administration is still in its first term when William Duer goes belly up and lands in debtors’ prison. He has the implosion of financial speculations backed by borrowed money to thank for this, and not even Alexander Hamilton's interventions can long save him from his fate.
U.S. financial markets were still literally operating on the curbside in New York City at the time of Duer’s unwinding. Stock and bond trading was still largely confined to Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. The Duer debacle crystallized the need for the young country to have a better organized trading center, bringing about the 1792 Buttonwood Agreement. A deal between auctioneers and dealers, this pact formalized things elements along the lines of more uniform commissions for traders.
Geisst's book spends many pages explaining how sharp minds on Wall Street created financial instruments to (in theory) make sectors of the economy run more effectively, delving into how the current system we have today was molded and shaped.
It deserves credit for keeping the story focused strictly on economic matters, only mentioning wars and scandals in relation to how they impacted the U.S. economy.
The Morgan family name (starting with J.P.) is a common thread running throughout Wall Street, with the fortunes associated with that dynasty dovetailing with various epochs in the economy. According to Wall Street: A History, “Morgan’s influence on the creation of corporate America was as strong as that of many inventors and entrepeneurs on their own businesses. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he had a domination position in railroads, life insurance, steel, and electricity, in addition to banking. Of all his activities, his role in the formation of U.S. Steel Corporation and the General Electric Company were perhaps the biggest feathers in his hat.”
The lack of a Federal Reserve system prior to the twentieth century underscored the periodic importance of deep-pocketed tycoons in preventing the stock market (and the U.S. government’s finances) from falling into disarray or outright collapsing. 1857, 1869-, 1873, and 1893 saw financial panics (potent economic downturns), with Wall Street firms essentially stepping in due to the lack of a central bank. Andrew Jackson’s role in preventing the renewal of the B.U.S.’s charter in the 1830s-and the battle against bank president Nicholas Biddle precipitated by the western president’s opposition to central banks-receives surprisingly scant attention. As evidenced by the numerous panics in the eighty years before central banking in the form of the Federal Reserve was reinstituted, the impact of this destruction very well might have set back U.S. economic development from what it otherwise might have been. This even set off a terrible panic in 1837 which torpedoed the van Buren administration and badly damaged the U.S.’s economic credibility on the world stage.
The importance of the railroads in the country’s economic development, and the manner in which the building of them brought foreign investment capital into the country, is the subject of a chapter preceding a look at the age of the so-called robber barons. This era dovetails with the U.S. government's battle against the money trusts as the nineteenth century morphs into the twentieth.
The 1930s and the reforms wrought by the New Deal consume a detail-rich chunk of the book. Geisst never tips his hand with regard to where he falls on an ideological spectrum, going to great lengths to avoid taking one side or another in past economic policy debates.
During the Great Depression section Geisst merely explains how the New Dealers changed regulation of Wall Street and the motivations which lay behind their desire to do so. He makes the argument that beginning in the 1950s-with a respite, strangely enough, during the Nixon administration-the nation quickly moved away from the regulatory mindset of the New Deal era and toward more of an era of deregulation. Again, he does not editorialize on whether this transformation was good or bad; both the good and bad outcomes resulting from strong regulations and the repealing of a lot of that framework are dutifully reported.
This book comes out to be more than the sum of its parts. Many of the paragraphs are poorly written and could have used at least one more rewrite, yet it is clear Geisst did his due diligence in digging up various Wall Street-related anecdotal pearls. Readers will learn a lot from it, but it almost qualifies as more of a textbook than a flowing, coherent narrative. Three stars is fair for this quality of work.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
Stories rich in narrative potential, such as Jay Gould’s efforts to corner the gold market in the 1870s, are somehow rendered less thrilling by the manner in which Geisst composes his work.. Though some of this shortcoming could have been smoothed over or outright eliminated by a more effective editor, it still robs Wall Street: A History of much of its ability to hook readers. Dishonest men like Gould would be joined a few centuries later on by the likes of Michael Milken, whose exploits in financial chicanery at Drexel, Burnham, Lambert demonstrated that greed is confined to no particular industry or century.
Much of the book focuses on the larger than life men who assisted in the evolution of the country’s economy. Tales of high flyers whose lavish beginnings do not end well begin early: the Washington administration is still in its first term when William Duer goes belly up and lands in debtors’ prison. He has the implosion of financial speculations backed by borrowed money to thank for this, and not even Alexander Hamilton's interventions can long save him from his fate.
U.S. financial markets were still literally operating on the curbside in New York City at the time of Duer’s unwinding. Stock and bond trading was still largely confined to Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. The Duer debacle crystallized the need for the young country to have a better organized trading center, bringing about the 1792 Buttonwood Agreement. A deal between auctioneers and dealers, this pact formalized things elements along the lines of more uniform commissions for traders.
Geisst's book spends many pages explaining how sharp minds on Wall Street created financial instruments to (in theory) make sectors of the economy run more effectively, delving into how the current system we have today was molded and shaped.
It deserves credit for keeping the story focused strictly on economic matters, only mentioning wars and scandals in relation to how they impacted the U.S. economy.
The Morgan family name (starting with J.P.) is a common thread running throughout Wall Street, with the fortunes associated with that dynasty dovetailing with various epochs in the economy. According to Wall Street: A History, “Morgan’s influence on the creation of corporate America was as strong as that of many inventors and entrepeneurs on their own businesses. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he had a domination position in railroads, life insurance, steel, and electricity, in addition to banking. Of all his activities, his role in the formation of U.S. Steel Corporation and the General Electric Company were perhaps the biggest feathers in his hat.”
The lack of a Federal Reserve system prior to the twentieth century underscored the periodic importance of deep-pocketed tycoons in preventing the stock market (and the U.S. government’s finances) from falling into disarray or outright collapsing. 1857, 1869-, 1873, and 1893 saw financial panics (potent economic downturns), with Wall Street firms essentially stepping in due to the lack of a central bank. Andrew Jackson’s role in preventing the renewal of the B.U.S.’s charter in the 1830s-and the battle against bank president Nicholas Biddle precipitated by the western president’s opposition to central banks-receives surprisingly scant attention. As evidenced by the numerous panics in the eighty years before central banking in the form of the Federal Reserve was reinstituted, the impact of this destruction very well might have set back U.S. economic development from what it otherwise might have been. This even set off a terrible panic in 1837 which torpedoed the van Buren administration and badly damaged the U.S.’s economic credibility on the world stage.
The importance of the railroads in the country’s economic development, and the manner in which the building of them brought foreign investment capital into the country, is the subject of a chapter preceding a look at the age of the so-called robber barons. This era dovetails with the U.S. government's battle against the money trusts as the nineteenth century morphs into the twentieth.
The 1930s and the reforms wrought by the New Deal consume a detail-rich chunk of the book. Geisst never tips his hand with regard to where he falls on an ideological spectrum, going to great lengths to avoid taking one side or another in past economic policy debates.
During the Great Depression section Geisst merely explains how the New Dealers changed regulation of Wall Street and the motivations which lay behind their desire to do so. He makes the argument that beginning in the 1950s-with a respite, strangely enough, during the Nixon administration-the nation quickly moved away from the regulatory mindset of the New Deal era and toward more of an era of deregulation. Again, he does not editorialize on whether this transformation was good or bad; both the good and bad outcomes resulting from strong regulations and the repealing of a lot of that framework are dutifully reported.
This book comes out to be more than the sum of its parts. Many of the paragraphs are poorly written and could have used at least one more rewrite, yet it is clear Geisst did his due diligence in digging up various Wall Street-related anecdotal pearls. Readers will learn a lot from it, but it almost qualifies as more of a textbook than a flowing, coherent narrative. Three stars is fair for this quality of work.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
October 29, 2017
A great overview of how the US became what it is, in terms of finance and economy. A tale of how a handful of men, through connections, and market manipulation on Wall Street came to own the major part of US economy/money/power. How trading jargon came about, when and how certain financial securities were created for the first time. The Great Depression, the bull markets of the last century, the merger mania, the dot com crash. Very educational and helpful read. The most interesting information in this book are all the different ways the big money were made.
July 8, 2017
A great history of the American financial system, from its very early foundations through to the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis. It has fascinating accounts of the robber barons of the 19th century, the 1929 crash and many others. Well worth a read for those interested in financial history.
July 26, 2023
Even though the book is very dry and after a point you really have to concentrate to complete the book, the last chapter is absolutely amazing!
The last chapter of the book talks about the regulations after the global financial crisis in layman language. I have never read anything (books/ articles/ research papers, etc.) which explains the regulations after GFC in simpler words.
The last chapter of the book talks about the regulations after the global financial crisis in layman language. I have never read anything (books/ articles/ research papers, etc.) which explains the regulations after GFC in simpler words.
August 4, 2019
Excellent rundown of the history of Wall Street and the gradual formation of the markets that still exist today. This is a comprehensive historical review that goes into depth of each era of wall steer, up to and including the Great Recession.
January 13, 2024
Dry, but informative. It’s amazing how all the scandals start to look the same and the attempts at regulation fall one step behind the latest frauds.
February 21, 2026
Couldn't finish this book. Read 80%, and then couldn't make myself reading anything else for a year.
February 25, 2020
This was my first book on Wall Street and boy did I pick a very comprehensive one. The author's views on the history of securities in the US and Wall Street are interesting given he's a finance professor. I found it surprising how most of the Wall Street disasters have been directly attributed to ill regulations, and not directly to policy itself.
The book is rather lengthy and verbose, but the enthralling stories it tell of early Wall Street biggies make it worth a read.
The book touches upon almost all big events of the American history itself as most of those are directly or indirectly linked to the Wall Street. From the very beginning of Wall Street when Peter Stuyvesant built a barricade to the rise of Robber Barons, to the great financing trends of the railroad industry, to innovations of Bell and Edison, everything is tied to Wall Street. And the book has successfully captured it.
The book occasionally becomes very technical and almost resembles a text book, and in the right spirit. Some materials have to be studied with a rigorous, academic devotion.
Overall, this book is a must read for anyone interested in US history, economics and policies of Wall Street, and the evolution of regulations in securities.
The book is rather lengthy and verbose, but the enthralling stories it tell of early Wall Street biggies make it worth a read.
The book touches upon almost all big events of the American history itself as most of those are directly or indirectly linked to the Wall Street. From the very beginning of Wall Street when Peter Stuyvesant built a barricade to the rise of Robber Barons, to the great financing trends of the railroad industry, to innovations of Bell and Edison, everything is tied to Wall Street. And the book has successfully captured it.
The book occasionally becomes very technical and almost resembles a text book, and in the right spirit. Some materials have to be studied with a rigorous, academic devotion.
Overall, this book is a must read for anyone interested in US history, economics and policies of Wall Street, and the evolution of regulations in securities.
February 3, 2023
This book is not what you probably expect. It is essentially the history of Wall Street as an interest group intent on maximizing its share of the American economy rather than Wall Street as a function that has helped make the American economy the strongest and most dynamic in the world. As a result, there's a tendency to focus on pricing and the relationship with Washington and very little attention paid to why NY gained primacy over Philadelphia and Boston or how securities were distributed.
This is billed as the first history written of Wall Street, which is true to my knowledge. However, it would have been better to have someone else write the first history that laid out the nuts and bolts of how Wall St served all the different sectors of America and how it enriched itself. It also would do a better job retelling the colorful stories that abound and that Professor Geisst sucks the energy out of.
I noticed two small errors in my edition:
(1) he conflates Jesse Livermore with his talented ghostwriter Edwin Lefebrve
(2) Father Coughlin, the Depression demagogue, came from Detroit rather than Chicago.
This is billed as the first history written of Wall Street, which is true to my knowledge. However, it would have been better to have someone else write the first history that laid out the nuts and bolts of how Wall St served all the different sectors of America and how it enriched itself. It also would do a better job retelling the colorful stories that abound and that Professor Geisst sucks the energy out of.
I noticed two small errors in my edition:
(1) he conflates Jesse Livermore with his talented ghostwriter Edwin Lefebrve
(2) Father Coughlin, the Depression demagogue, came from Detroit rather than Chicago.
March 15, 2011
Geisst did an adequate job in conveying the information to the readers. Things started to make sense until he got to the 1930s then he lost me. Things were too complicated and he wrote like it was the tangled web of regulation that is probably was. Unfortunately, I needed clarity not complication. I rate this a "4" because he does a wonderful job leading us from 1791 to 1929, and again from 1947 to 1980. It's pretty good except for the years in between. Worth the read but prepare to study the Great Depression.
July 19, 2014
This books gives a history of finance in this country, listing all the major economic hiccups throughout. Best of all it is written in an easy to read format that is easy to understand. The book felt a little rushed through the period after the Great Depression, however. I imagine as we understand more about the 2007-2008 crisis with hindsight on our side that there will be future additions of this book. I enjoyed reading about the many parallels between the depression error and the 2008-2008 Great Recession.
June 19, 2015
Listened to this as I did a 1K roundtrip drive across Utah. A very accessible history of investing in the US, discussing the cast of colorful characters and banks that influenced our early financial heritage (as well as some of our more recent developments).
Kind of depressing in some respects as I can see parallels in the turmoil of the early years in today's investing climate.
Kind of depressing in some respects as I can see parallels in the turmoil of the early years in today's investing climate.
January 22, 2016
Charles Geisst writes quite at length for this one. Covering 1790-1996 (should've grabbed the revised edition), he walks through many cycles, many topics, and many people. Sometimes a bit dry, but content rich; I'd only recommend this to those who like financial history. The whole time I kept hearing Mark Twain: History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme.
March 2, 2022
This is a tough read if you do not have a degree in finance. After I got into it, it was interesting to see what really happened in 2008 and 1987. People working in the stock market are greedy and will not be easily deterred. They are insulated and do not care who they hurt.
June 24, 2008
It is what it is.
August 19, 2008
This book is very readable, and a good introduction to the stock market and American financial history for the general reader.
May 29, 2015
Comprehensive
January 5, 2019
Hard to cover Wall Street history in one book. Just a few years could take a book, but he does a fair job. There are some obvious errors.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews