Customer Reviews

Wall Street stories (Short story index reprint series)

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A neat collection of short stories that appeared in McClure's Magazine around 1900. Some characters reappear in different stories, but the stories are each self-contained. This is the earliest work in which I have found the short-selling quote: "He who sells what isn't his'n, Must buy it back or go to pris'n (page 173)." If you want to feel the brass Ticky-ticky-ticky-tick of the ticker then read this book. The first story "The Lady and Her Bonds" appears to have been the inspiration for Lefevre's novel "Sampson Rosk of Wall Street." If you liked "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator," you will love this book. Don't be dissuaded by the "out of print" label probably attached to this work - it cn still be found and is worth the search.

Written in the early 1900s but definitely (notwithstanding the simplicity of the short story format),and aptly captures the street and its psychology in both character traits, basic technical workings of certain market dynamics in nicely terse yet woefully realistic stories.

The thing about this book, is that, it appears to be just an old cheap book, with somewhat outdated 'dialogue', and lack of embellishment in the style of writing, yet it's so damn accurate and spot on with its plots and outcomes and presentation of prevailing human characteristics and the markets while really just talking about a handful of protagonists.

These stories are about the things that will not change, regardless of what has occured in this most recent market apocalypse.

I've read a good deal of these newer contemporary 'market books', ie) Lehman, bear sterns, the book about paulson's hedge fund, and they all fall way short of these simple stories 110 years later.

Can't really sum it up well in this review. Like I said, it appears on the surface to be chicken-scratch on toilet paper(I actually got it on the Kindle) but damn, if you ever traded or worked in banking or brokerage, you'd definitely appreciate this book.

This is an automated transcript of the original text. The result is filled with spelling, grammar, and structural mistakes. Words and sentences are cut out, or missing. The reader will spend more time trying to make sense of the text than enjoying a literary read. I stopped reading after only a few pages. This is an insult to the writer and to literature, and a definite waste of money. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS. PLEASE DO NOT ENCOURAGE THIS DESTRUCTION OF LITERATURE. If you really want to read this book as I do, then I suggest you pay the price for the original version. It's a shame to call this a book. It's also a shame for Amazon to encourage the distribution of such junk.