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The Book of Daniel Drew
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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January 12, 2026Unannotated Book in F. Scott Fitzgerald's College of One
February 1, 2022
The book is certainly an entertaining rollick in the mind of a man who was important but is largely forgotten about today, a regular Wall Street genius who for a time seemed to screw everybody as he looked out for himself.
But here's the thing - that image was a deliberate creation of the author, who despite what the editor's note might say, was definitely not Daniel Drew. The book was written by Bouck White, a radical minister and socialist who was kicked out of his own church. White was attempting to show just how evil the men of Wall Street really were, how hypocritical they were in professing faith while destroying lives via the stock market. In that way the book reads like the diary of a truly evil man, whose actions and words will often shock and amuse. In fact the book gets to read as something of a religious parable, where the evil man is ultimately taken down by his own greed and the equally evil men he made his 'friends'.
And it is a total fraud. The diaries White claimed to have received from a grandniece of Drew don't exist. What stories in it are true were taken from other books (sometimes almost completely ripped off) and newspaper reports. Much of it is unverified completely, and any of the personal thoughts of Drew contained in this book are fully fabricated by an author who despite his efforts is ultimately just as much a liar as Drew was.
In the broad strokes, the book really isn't completely false, although it may help a reader to read the appendix of the much later book "The Money Game in Old New York: Daniel Drew and his Times" which points out several glaring errors and outright lies contained in this book. It really is more interesting as a way to look at the image of Wall Street brokers of the time - a better look at what Bouck White was supposedly revealing than what he actually revealed. And besides all the errors and false history, it is as remarkably readable book for having been written in 1910. Just don't mistake it for actual history.
But here's the thing - that image was a deliberate creation of the author, who despite what the editor's note might say, was definitely not Daniel Drew. The book was written by Bouck White, a radical minister and socialist who was kicked out of his own church. White was attempting to show just how evil the men of Wall Street really were, how hypocritical they were in professing faith while destroying lives via the stock market. In that way the book reads like the diary of a truly evil man, whose actions and words will often shock and amuse. In fact the book gets to read as something of a religious parable, where the evil man is ultimately taken down by his own greed and the equally evil men he made his 'friends'.
And it is a total fraud. The diaries White claimed to have received from a grandniece of Drew don't exist. What stories in it are true were taken from other books (sometimes almost completely ripped off) and newspaper reports. Much of it is unverified completely, and any of the personal thoughts of Drew contained in this book are fully fabricated by an author who despite his efforts is ultimately just as much a liar as Drew was.
In the broad strokes, the book really isn't completely false, although it may help a reader to read the appendix of the much later book "The Money Game in Old New York: Daniel Drew and his Times" which points out several glaring errors and outright lies contained in this book. It really is more interesting as a way to look at the image of Wall Street brokers of the time - a better look at what Bouck White was supposedly revealing than what he actually revealed. And besides all the errors and false history, it is as remarkably readable book for having been written in 1910. Just don't mistake it for actual history.
May 2, 2022
Written in 1910, this is the story of a stock manipulator who had no regrets or apologies. He considered anyone taken in by him foolish, gullible and uneducated, in effect, liable for their own losses. He used his money to establish Drew University in NJ, initially as a theological seminary. Quite ironic.
April 17, 2023
This book is entertaining and has a ton of funny quotes, but it is really a work of fiction. Daniel Drew was illiterate, and the claim that he left notes about anything (much less ones that were legible) is not credible. Nevertheless, the book does capture the spirit of Daniel Drew and many of the Gilded Age stock operators of the time. For that reason, it is worth a read..
January 9, 2015
Socialist newspaper man Bouck White wrote this 'memoir' in the voice of the scoundrel Daniel Drew, one of the more colourful characters of New York's disreputable past. Drew watered his first stock literally, when he bought scrawny beef cattle and loaded them up with water prior to sale to John Jacob Astor's father, a butcher. From there he went on to defraud millions, and lose millions. Several times. He and Commodore Vanderbilt were rivals, enemies and friends. There really wasn't a swindle he could walk away from. He did like good preaching. And he loved his wife. Essential reading for fans of NYC criminality, and the collusion government, gangsters and businessmen.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews