The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Junius Spencer Morgan never seemed quite at home on Wall Street..." (more)
Key Phrases: street bomb explosion, street explosion, deportation raids, Wall Street, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Just after noon on September 16, 1920, as hundreds of workers poured onto Wall Street for their lunchtime break, a horse-drawn cart packed with dynamite exploded in a spray of metal and fire, turning the busiest corner of the financial center into a war zone. Thirty-nine people died and hundreds more lay wounded, making the Wall Street explosion the worst terrorist attack to that point in U.S. history. In The Day Wall Street Exploded, Beverly Gage tells the story of that once infamous but now largely forgotten event.

Take a Look at Wall Street Political Cartoons

Political cartoons in 1920 reflected public perceptions of the attack on Wall Street and its aftermath. Cartoonists directed their satire towards the villains of the age: communists, anarchists, and--according to one cartoonist--greedy employers. These images are featured in the decorative endpapers of The Day Wall Street Exploded. (Click on any image to enlarge).

Solidarity December 17, 1921

New York Daily News September 17, 1920

Chicago Tribune Date Unknown

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From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. On September 16, 1920, 81 years before 9/11, America experienced its first modern terrorist attack, a car bomb in the heart of New York's financial district that killed dozens, injured hundreds and was never solved. Writer and historian Gage presents a gripping account of class war and violence during the turn of the 20th century with deep resonance in the current state of the Union. A long time coming, 1919 saw a series of strikes sweep the country-including policemen, steel workers, miners, and a five-day general strike in Seattle-accompanied by a bombing campaign; 30 mail bombs were sent to prominent financiers, industrialists, and politicians in April 1919 alone. FBI director William J. Flynn, head of the Wall Street bombing investigation, believed members of an anti-capitalist anarchist sect were to blame, and sought unsuccesfully to condemn them with flimsy evidence (prompting muckraker Upton Sinclair to label Flynn a "self interested liar"). Weaving the story of the explosion and botched investigation with a masterful account of labor unrest over preceding decades, this is a highly relevant, hard to put down history of terror and civil liberties in America.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; First Edition first Printing edition (January 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019514824X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195148244
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #134,899 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recalling a significant but little known chapter in American history., February 6, 2009

By	Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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"As it grew, New York had become not a melting pot but a city of extremes: the capital of capitalism and of radicalism, of wealth and poverty, of high-minded reform and pragmatic enterprise, of the war effort and the antiwar crusade. Its very success as a magnet for the rich as well as the poor, for left as well as right, made it a city of frequent discord, a place where the conflicts of the rest of the nation--indeed of much of the world--were compressed into a few square miles." This quotation, lifted from page 21 of Beverly Gage's compelling new book "The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America In Its First Age of Terror" seems to capture precisely what was happening in New York City in the year 1920. On September 16th of that year an explosion took place at high noon in the heart of Wall Street right across the street from the Morgan Bank. The results were devasting. Thirty nine people were killed that day and hundreds more injured. The tiny 100 bed hospital that served the area was ill-prepared for the casualties. Prior to the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995 it was the deadliest terrorist attack in American history and yet very few Americans have ever even heard of it. "The Day Wall Street Exploded" explores what was taking place in our country at that juncture in our history and attempts to determine who might have been responsible for this heinous act. It is compelling reading.
Now in order to help her readers to fully comprehend the environment in which these events took place Beverly Gage opens "The Day Wall Street Exploded" with an extensive history of radical thought in America. You will meet many of the prominent radical activists of the day including Big Bill Hayward, Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Eugene Debs and Luigi Galleani to name but a few. Not all radicals were advocating the same ideas. There were socialists, communists and anarchists. They had come to America from countries like Germany, Italy, Russia and France. What they all shared in common was a hatred for industrialists and for the money men on Wall Street. Given the tenor of the times it is remarkable that a lot more violence did not occur during this extremely volatile period. But make no mistake, there had been violence. The famous Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1886 had started out as a rally in support of striking workers. Someone threw a bomb into the crowd and eight policemen and an undetermined number of civilians were killed. Beverly Gage also discusses other significant terrorist incidents including the McNamara Affair and the May Day bomb conspiracy which had targeted Jack Morgan and dozens of other businessmen and politicians. Finally, based on thousands of pages of Bureau of Investigation reports "The Day Wall Street Exploded" traces our governments four year hunt for the perpetrators of Wall Street bombing. You will be introduced to the public officials who led the investigation and learn of some of the highly questionable tactics they employed to try to get a break in the case.
I found "The Day That Wall Street Exploded" to be an exceptionally well written book. Meticulously documented, Beverly Gage leaves no stone unturned in her effort to figure out just what went down on that long ago September afternoon. While this is a "must read" for history buffs it is also a book that general audiences should enjoy as well. Highly recommended!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Exploration of a Forgotten Incident that is Relevant Today , February 18, 2009

By	scesq "scesq" (New Milford, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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I love American history and I was surprised to see a book that talked about a bombing on Wall Street that happened in 1920. I had heard about the bombing at Black Tom Island in New York Harbor in 1916 during World War I but had never heard of a peacetime bombing on Wall Street. The Day Wall Street Exploded taught me not only about the bombing itself but also about terrorism in the United States that occurred in the late 1800's that I never knew existed. It also gave me a great sense of the conflict between unions and capitalists, communists and members of the United States Government and anarchists and every government.

This book is well footnoted so the author clearly has done her homework. This is not a brief look into the subject but an exhaustive look at terrorism before the bombing, the bombing itself, the search for the culprits and the world which allowed the bombing to occur. Living just outside New York City I remember what it was like after the September 11 bombing. I remember the concern that something could happen so near. I remember the added security and the desire to find the masterminds behind the bombing.

The reaction by people to the September 16, 1920 Wall Street bombing was no different. An appendix at the end of the book lists the names, ages and occupations of the 38 men and women who died in the bombing. Despite its' much smaller scale innocents were killed (including students and secretaries and messengers and grocery clerks), people were amazed a bombing could occur on Wall Street and kill people for no real reason. People wanted to find those who were responsible.

The search was not perfect and some investigators had their own agenda in identifying the culprits. Some politicians used the bombing for political gain. Others were only interested in finding the culprits and were true patriots. America survived the bombing, people were not afraid and the nation became even stronger. Some things never change.

The author takes on a lot in this book. She is writing about a complex investigation that occurred some 90 years ago and attempting to give the reader a sense of the times, which is not easy considering the period in American history. She succeeds. While the author gets into some pretty specific details the books flows well. It took me a number of days to read because to the amount of information she includes and the detailed footnoting but I would not have wanted her to do otherwise. The information is necessary to tell the whole story.

If you are interested in this time period this is a great book. If you want to see that people have not changed much in 80 years when it comes to reacting to terrorism read this book.

For me the names, occupations and ages of people killed by terrorism some 90-year's ago looks much the same as it does today. After reading the book and reading the names I felt sorry for those killed by terrorists so long ago. The next time I visit Wall Street I will pay my respects to those who died as senselessly as those who died on September 11.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Yes, tremble, ye canaille, ye bloodsuckers, ye ravishers of maidens...", May 28, 2009

By	CodeMaster Talon (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

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The above words, spoken by anarchist Johann Most, sum up the general attitudes of the rabble-rousers you will spend 300 pages with, should you choose to read "The Day Wall Street Exploded". A better title would have been "And then Wall Street Exploded: The Anarchist Movement of the Early 1900's", since that, as other reviewers have pointed out, is the actual subject.

Reading like a good student's loooooong term paper, the book is dense, Byzantine, and rather dry in style. We spend a lot of time with some truly annoying people, but then we also learn a lot about an age largely forgotten, a time with strong parallels to our own. The details of the attack itself are very interesting, but side trips into the repellent minds of Johann Most & Co. are not (with the exception of spitfire Emma Goldman, who at least is entertaining). I know conditions were wretched, and people had a right to be disgruntled, so what does it say that I found myself relieved to be back with the Morgans?

It comes down to the writing style. If you are not used to reading history, the endless details of this book might bore you. If you love it, you might like this read. History buff that I am, I still found myself kind of forcing it. In an age where apparently everyone ran around with lighted sticks of dynamite, dullness is inexcusable. With a hundred pages cut and a lot more color, this could have been a must.

Instead,

GRADE: C (B- if you love and adore Emma Goldman, or find scrawny, whiny Johann Most appealing.)