South Sea Bubble [Hardcover]

John Carswell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2002

This classic account of the first great British financial scandal is a brilliant recreation of eighteenth-century social and economic life and will interest anyone fascinated by scandal, corruption, and human vanity.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Carswell was a distinguished Augustan historian, whose books on the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries have won widespread critical acclaim. His other publications include The Old Cause, The Political Journal of George Bubb Dodington, The Descent on England and From Revolution to Revolution

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing (May 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750927992
• ISBN-13: 978-0750927994
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,701,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and Insightful, February 18, 2005

By 

Michael Mathison (Brookline, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The South Sea Bubble (History/18th/19th Century History) (Hardcover)

Though written over 40 years ago, Carswell's study of the South Sea Bubble is brilliant. The South Sea Bubble was an ambitious scheme to simultaneously pay off the British government's enormous debts while simultaneously getting rich in London's newly created stock market. In essence, holders of government debt exchanged valuable bonds and annuities for stock which ultimately became worthless. Carswell teases out the details which are so important to understanding how the fraud worked, while at the same time capturing the big picture of British politics and society, and the fascinating personalities of the main actors in the government and the South Sea Company. Carswell writes with humor, insight, and a clarity few modern historians can match. Buy this classic study in preference to the recently published books on the subject, which are neither as readable nor as thorough.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tying it all together., November 11, 2002

By 

The Big Mean Tough Fudd (VIC, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South Sea Bubble (Hardcover)

Did you know that the Bank of England was formed originally by a bunch of businessmen wanting to use debt-collection methods on the English Government? That the Guinea was not always worth 21 shillings? And that the back of each London credit house had bundles of sticks representing debts?

Fascinating information and history of the start of the English economic rush that was so viciously stalled in 1720 when the country's biggest investment craze turned out to be an early Ponzi scheme. Learn how far King George I and his "nieces" were involved. Discover why stock is called "stock" (and it's nothing to do with cattle!)