Money of the Mind: Borrowing and Lending in America from the Civil War to Michael Milken [Hardcover]

James Grant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1992

A look at America's relationship with debt describes how American industrial and financial communities' speculative frenzy in the 1980s has brought about today's weak economy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a colorful, entertaining and wickedly witty history, financial analyst Grant charts the gradual relaxation of lending practices in the United States from the Progressive era, when the government became a banker and guarantor of other banks, to the 1980s boom, when banks competed to finance office buildings and debt service amounted to 14% of disposable personal income for the average American. His panorama of the cyclical expansion and contraction of credit spotlights such key figures as Arthur Morris, an early proselytizer for consumer credit; George Baker, whose First National Bank of New York refused most loan applicants in the 1880s; Chase Manhattan president George Champion; and Citicorp chairman Walter Wriston. Grant ( Bernard M. Baruch ) provides a chilling perspective on our debt-ridden economy by showing how financial mistakes of the 1920s wre repeated with only slight variations in the '70s and '80s.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The 1980s were the troubling culmination of two trends in American finance--ever easier access to credit and the subsidizing of risk by government. As he explores these trends, Grant, a former Barron's staff writer and editor of Grant's Interest Rate Observer , weaves in personal histories of influential financiers, financial markets, and institutions. He places a great deal of emphasis on psychological phenomena--the emotional waves of optimism and pessimism that roll credit markets. Although the stories are well told, there are often too many details and not enough perspective and analysis. Recommended for libraries wishing extensive collections in finance.
- Richard C. Schiming, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 513 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T); 1st edition (June 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374169799
• ISBN-13: 978-0374169794
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #725,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Grant founded Grant's Interest Rate Observer, a twice-monthly journal of the financial markets, in 1983.

He is the author of five books on finance and financial history: Bernard M. Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (Simon & Schuster, 1983), Money of the Mind (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992), Minding Mr. Market (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1993) and The Trouble with Prosperity (Times Books, 1996), and Mr. Market Miscalculates (Axios Press, 2008). John Adams: Party of One, a biography of the second president of the United States was published in March 2005 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

His latest book, "Mr. Speaker! The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed, the Man Who Broke the Filibuster," will be published in May by Simon & Schuster.

Mr. Grant's television appearances include "60 Minutes," "The Charley Rose Show," "CBS Evening News," and a 10-year stint on Wall Street Week. His journalism has appeared in a variety of periodicals, including the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs, and he contributed an essay to the Sixth Edition of Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis (McGraw-Hill, 2009).

Mr. Grant, a former Navy gunner's mate, is a Phi Beta Kappa alumnus of Indiana University. He earned a master's degree in international relations from Columbia University and began his career in journalism in 1972, at the Baltimore Sun. He joined the staff of Barron's in 1975 where he originated the Current Yield column.

Visit the Website for Mr. Speaker! The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed The Man Who Broke the Filibuster at www.mrspeakerbook.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars They Don't Mind Taking Your Money, February 24, 2007

By 

Clark Bailey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Money of the Mind: Borrowing and Lending in America from the Civil War to Michael Milken (Hardcover)

Though James Grant is an excellent writer, his florid style lends itself better to the short articles he publishes in his newsletter than to this mammoth history of American credit booms and busts. Having said that, if you slug through the details and the (always entertaining) anecdotes, the book can teach you an immense amount of financial history that has been largely forgotten along the way. Its thesis, in short, is that money has increasingly become a government sponsored fiction that serves to defeat the natural risk mechanisms of a healthy credit market (recall that it was written at the time of the S&L bailout). This historical perspective seems essential if you want to understand the liquid world of serial bubbles we have been swimming in for the past ten years, but it is also dangerous, insofar as it may make you want to buy a pile of gold to put in your concrete bunker.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grant is the best writer on Wall Street today..., August 7, 2007

By 

Robert R. Frump "Bob" (Summit, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MONEY OF THE MIND PB (Paperback)

James Grant is the best writer of his generation on Wall Street today. Those looking for a romp or Wall Street Noir might be disappointed. But for a truly literate look at the world of debt, this book not only informs but entertains.
James Grant. Accept no substitutes.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing new under the sun in credit, March 22, 2008

By 

Lee Phelps (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MONEY OF THE MIND PB (Paperback)

Mr. Grant writes a book now 15 years old that could be redone with a new chapter of the subprime follies. Hardly necessary as he goes over the last 100+ years of similar booms and busts of which subprime is the latest flavor. Knowing that America has recovered from all those busts actually provides some optimism versus the press's gloominess. When it seems darkest means its time to buy. Looking forward to a revised edition in a few years. Mr. Grant is an old time American not an anti-American, he's on record as Cleveland being his favorite President, hardly an anti-American.
This book is well worth the time providing some perspective on today's headlines.