Fraser, historian and author, reviews the complicated love-hate relationship between Americans and the financial markets by using Wall Street as the symbol of money and its power. By identifying four personality types that reappear throughout history, he explores more than 200 years of struggle between wealth and work, democracy and elitism, and greed and salvation. These types include the “pretentious aristocrat,” from the 1792 speculator who was jailed for causing the first crash, to Michael Milken, who was jailed in the 1980s for speculation in junk bonds. Fraser’s “wily confidence-man” category with numerous names tells us that such individuals are ever present in a market society. The “imperial heroes” include Cornelius Vanderbilt and “Jubilee Jim” Fisk—the latter identified as “the Donald Trump of the nineteenth century.” The “immoralist,” the sinner category, includes the Gilded Age’s Jay Gould and the “cascade of financial scandals beginning with Enron.” This is an excellent book that traces the history of Wall Street through those who shaped it, for better or for worse. --Mary Whaley
Review
“In this age of agitated amnesiacs, Americans have forgotten that nothing is new—that in other times money and power were forged into a conspiracy against the public. Steve Fraser connects vividly to that past, reminding us that this present financial crisis is not the first time our hearts have been broken by Wall Street peddlers of the American Dream.”—Bill Moyers
(Bill Moyers )
"This book is written with Fraser’s customary panache and scrupulous attention to detail. If you’re after a fascinating take on one of our ultimate icons, this is it.”—Mike Wallace, John Jay College (CUNY), co-author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
(Mike Wallace )
"Provides a rich historical context from which to reflect on the purpose and morality of our financial markets."—Robert Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance
(Robert Shiller )
"I don''t know of a better book about Wall Street''s hold on the American imagination. Were it to be listed as a stock on the New York exchange, I''d bet on the quadrupling of its price in the first day''s trading."—Lewis Lapham
(Lewis Lapham )
"In his delightfully written, sweeping history Wall Street, [Fraser] shows how . . . citizens react to the ups and downs of the business cycles and the towering figures who dominated each era."—David D''Alessandro, Toronto Globe & Mail
(David D'Alessandro
Toronto Globe & Mail 20080813)
"Fraser is almost lyrical as he weaves together his tale of how the image of Wall Street fits into American culture and mythology."—Library Journal
(
Library Journal 20080415)
