Money of the Mind: How the 1980s Got That Way [Paperback]

James Grant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1994

"A brilliantly eccentric, kaleidoscopic tour of our credit lunacy. . . . A splendid, tooth-gnashing saga that should be savored for its ghoulish humor and passionately debated for its iconoclastic analysis. It is a fitting epitaph to the credit binge of the '80s."--Ron Chernow, The Wall Street Journal.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of Minding Mr. Market presents a formidable and funny history of financial credit and the American marketplace.
Copyright 1994 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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (May 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374524017
• ISBN-13: 978-0374524012
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #398,025 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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 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

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

13 of 14 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

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

15 of 17 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

Format: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.