Smith and Kraus offers the first ever English translation of Mercadet. In this sensational translation of Mercadet (The Napoleon of Finance), Robet Cornthwaite brings Balzac's play to the American stage, filled with the wit, and all the fun of the original French version. Balzac's words come alive in this satire of the glamorous world of 18th century Parisian financiers.
"Deficits are all the wealth this nation has," says Mercadet, the Napoleon of Finance. In 1840 this manipulator of the Bourse, the Paris stock exchange, was skinning customers and skimming profits in a way to make Wall Street blanch. Then he chose a husband for his daughter who taught him a few new tricks.
