Customer Reviews

Wall Street: A History

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I LOVED this book from about the 1860s on. Geisst's history of the period before the revolution and into the mid 1800s was a little dry for my liking. I read John Steele Gordon religiously in American Heritage, and enjoy his style better (I can't wait for his new book!) I was fascinated in particular by the lack of a Central Bank, and the rise of the so-called Robber Barons. The increasing role of government is well documented, objectively I think. The book really picked up for me after the Great Depression, and I learned much about Glass-Steagall(sp?) and the separation of commercial and investment banks. I'd recommend the book for anyone who wants to know why Wall Street works the way it does, and to put the present in perspective (as any good history book does).

I have been reading books by Geisst since I was an undergraduate at Syracuse. Unlike many other authors writing about the topic, he is the only one I know who knows finance inside out. Many writers on American history know little about the market & Wall Street. I read other books and find no mention of primary markets, only the stock exchanges.In this book, he tracks both and correctly so. That alone shows the comprehensiveness of his approach. This is a great history of Wall Street by a finance person. In the early 1980's I used a book of his as an undergradutae text. Now I find a history book. Not many other authors can claim that breath. This is a must.

The book is dense, but well-written and very educational. Dr. Geisst wrote a wonderful history of Wall Street from its early days of the late 18th century until the mid 1990s. Most of the colorful movers and shaker that Wall Street has seen throughout history are here and their exploits are lucidly, if not grippingly, described. From Geisst's accurate historical narrative it becomes clear just how speculative and wild Wall Street had been, until the Depression era regulations. This book is valuable for anyone interested in U.S. history, financial history, and world economic history. Pick it up today.

Charles Geisst tells a gripping history of Wall Street, from a tiny congregation of traders along the sidecurb to the most influential financial market in the world. Over a span of 200 years, Geisst examines the factors contributing to the rise of Wall Street and the Street's role in helping America become the most powerful economy. On the light side, he narrates the colourful lives and exploits of the Robber Barons who have come to symbolise Wall Street's predatory and free-wheeling past. This is definitely an engaging book but without being pedantic for history freaks.

Traders met under a tree in the beginning to trade securities, that's about it. Later, the securities were being traded on the "curb", then indoors, and eventually it became the global market that we know today. You will learn about the progress of the market, the booms, the busts, the market "breaks" and the recessions and depressions that followed.

This book is a complete history of investing in the US: Interested in the history of trading? Interested in the history of corporate debt (short-term securities, bonds, etc.)? Interested in how the US was funded to become the World power it is today? Interested in issues like program trading and market volatility? This book discusses all of these and many more, including the people, thinking, and developments that have made the market what it is today.

I really enjoyed this book. It did what I wanted it to do, and that was to teach me more about financial history. Not only did I find it educational, but the characters & dramas describe whithin, made it read like a novel in parts.

Very rewarding.

Charles Geisst's "Wall Street: A History" provides a chronological overview of the American financial system. This ambitious book purports to be the first such work to cover this topic. The story begins in the late 18th century, with subsequent chapters carving up the next 200 years into logical periods. Although the book omits several important events (e.g., Wall Street's role in the post-war development of Japan, anti-trust litigation against IBM, etc.), few will fault Geisst for being incomplete in his work. Significant firms and personalities receive due attention, and readers who were following the scandals of the 1980s and 1990s (Boesky, Milken, S&L's) will appreciate the latter-day perspective. My only quibbles are that the prose is a little dry, and the amount of facts crammed into 367 pages makes it tough not to feel a little overwhelmed. "Wall Street" ends with Greenspan's prescient comment about "irrational exuberance" in the US equity markets in 1996. The years that followed are presumably covered in Geisst's 2004 update of the original.

The book is a detailed history of the ups and downs of the stock market and the charletons who rigged the system over the years. Wall Street has always resisted regulation and on-measure, given enough time,they have outwitted the regulators and Congress. The book has a constant Wall Street refrain of "we're being over regulated" but the facts presented in this book shows the reader that the reverse is true--greed is a powerful motivator. The many facts and characters described in the book is truly enough to scare the individual investor away. If you refuse to be scared away then you can choose to ignore the history or you can read this and hopefully learn what the pitfalls are. If you get burned in the market and have chosen not to read this book don't blame somebody else.
One of the greatest parts of the book is that it lays out the many other factors affecting stock prices--derivatives, junk bonds, interest swaps, bond ratings, insider trading, short selling with options, and several more. If you think like I do you probably think in terms of fundamentals such as p/e ratio, earnings growth, volatility, gross sales and the like. The reality however is that there are many others using shorts, group buy/sell assaults, and rumor/fear mongering that have a greater near-term effect on stock movement than fundamentals that are disclosed less frequently than fundamentals. The net effect is they have a greater near-term force on the market.

This is really a great book. And I check the seller's website. More surprises over there! Go to check it out, buddies!

This book gives good insight about the history of the most famous street in america. A must have book for any business person or student