Rainbow's End: The Crash of 1929 (Pivotal Moments in American History) 1st Edition

by Maury Klein (Author)

65 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0195158014

ISBN-10: 0195158016

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Rainbow's End tells the story of the stock market collapse in a colorful, swift-moving narrative that blends a vivid portrait of the 1920s with an intensely gripping account of Wall Street's greatest catastrophe. The book offers a vibrant picture of a world full of plungers, powerful bankers,
corporate titans, millionaire brokers, and buoyantly optimistic stock market bulls. We meet Sunshine Charley Mitchell, head of the National City Bank, powerful financiers Jack Morgan and Jacob Schiff, Wall Street manipulators such as the legendary Jesse Livermore, and the lavish-living Billy Durant,
founder of General Motors. As Klein follows the careers of these men, he shows us how the financial house of cards gradually grew taller, as the irrational exuberance of an earlier age gripped America and convinced us that the market would continue to rise forever. Then, in October 1929, came a
"perfect storm"-like convergence of factors that shook Wall Street to its foundations. We relive Black Thursday, when police lined Wall Street, brokers grew hysterical, customers "bellowed like lunatics," and the ticker tape fell hours behind.

This compelling history of the Crash--the first to follow the market closely for the two years leading up to the disaster--illuminates a major turning point in our history.

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Editorial Reviews

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"Klein tells the story of the crash clearly and well, with some especially good pen portraits of characters such as Thomas Lamont, Jesse Livermore, Charley Mitchell and Albert Wiggin (who actually made money short-selling)."--The Economist

"A remarkable blend of sharp-eyed business history and keen cultural analysis, Rainbow's End paints the most compelling picture yet of the stock-market crash of 1929. In Maury Klein's able hands, the story of the crash ends up illuminating not just Wall Street in the Jazz Age, but America as well.
Boom and bust: Klein gives us both, in all their intoxicating and hysterical glory."--James Surowiecki, The New Yorker

"Land crooks...delusional bank chairman...high-rolling speculators....The woes of the local shoe-shine man and Groucho Marx get mentioned, too....Klein offers a swift survey of the lunatic optimism of Wall Street and how it all turned to dust in the closing days of October....Each chapter resonates
with the follies of today."--The Wall Street Journal

"Well-written, entertaining and detailed....Klein shows how optimism gradually spawned financial euphoria."--Robert J. Samuelson, The New York Times Book Review

"Who better than Maury Klein to write an engaging history of the stock market crash of 1929 and the way its enthusiasms and traumas burned their way into the American experience? Here is a tale whose ending we already know, yet he rivets attention by weaving compelling vignettes into a dramatic
narrative. [T]here is something new for everyone in Rainbow's End."--Pamela Waer Laird, Professor of History, University of Colorado, The Journal of American History

"The great crash of 1929 was one of those sharp breaks in the stream of time when all who were living knew immediately that their world had changed. Many, of course, have written of the crash, but few as well or as authoritatively as Maury Klein in Rainbow's End. He brings a historian's perspective
to a complex story while retaining the sense of immediacy that made those terrible days some of the most exciting in American history."--John Steele Gordon, author of The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street As a World Power

"A well-written, comprehensible assessment of the 1929 stock-market crash. Klein is an elegant constructor of business histories, and one can read dire warnings between the lines here. A most timely business narrative."--Kirkus

"Klein helps readers better understand the reaction of millions to an event that shook the world....A timely publication."--Library Journal

"Klein's accessible view of the cultural and social history of Wall Street and the US during a pivotal decade is recommended for all libraries."--CHOICE

About the Author

Maury Klein is Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island and one of the most acclaimed historians of American business at work today. He is the author of many books, including The Life and Legend of Jay Gould, Unfinished Business: The Railroad in American Life, and Days of Defiance:
Sumter, Secession, and the Coming of the Civil War.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (May 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195158016
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195158014
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.07 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.1 x 0.98 x 6.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #614,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #398 in Business Investments
- #1,117 in United States History (Books)
- #1,630 in Economic History (Books)

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Top reviews from the United States

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E. Jones

Seems Familiar

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2019

Verified Purchase

The way the author set the table was incredible. And he personalized it from the perspective of several individuals, high and low in the food chain. I never understood that the depression was a slow stone rolling. Not entirely a drop off the shelf one uncertain day. In that era, America suffered three existential threats, economic, environmental and psychological. I don’t know about you dear readers but I would not want to face down any kind of such a threat at this point in time. The ending would completely different, I’m certain of it.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

A solid story from the people's point of view

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2012

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book both because of the writing style and content.

The writing style is a strong narrative with various good characters and events, and is written to show the points of views of many people (from various walks of life) who participated in, and were affected by, the big crash. To me, it was a fun and engaging read, not at all tedious like so many financial and/or history books.

The content of the book was 3/4 on the main story, and about 1/4 on the reference list, so the book content is definitely rooted in the reality and newpapers and sources of the time. I liked how the author did such a good job of weaving quotes from the historical record into the narrative -- it usually felt that I was right there, listening to a reporter or someone who was relating yesterday's news (hot off the press) and providing insightful analysis.

I see that other reviewers do not favour this book as much as Galbraiths book (or others), mostly it seems because this book does not contain the super-detail or academic analysis that the other books do. From my point of view, the "lack" of endless analytical detail is a good thing, not a bad thing.

This book was intended to be a story from the people's point of view, with many quotes from the newspapers and people of the time, very readable and accessible to anyone who wanted a story about the 1920s, the moods and trends of the time, and about the crash event itself. And I think the book does an excellent job of achieving its goal.

I would definitely recommend this book to my friends, or anyone who is interested in the people and moods of the 1920s and the crash. I really enjoyed it.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kyle F. Mcgrogan

FIscal Cliff, Version 1!

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2012

Verified Purchase

Many of us forget, that there have been plutocrats and oligarchs since sea shells were trading mediums, and much like today, there were always those who were looking to "Get Rich Quick", or to not pay their fair share in taxes. The result was that many common everyday people, paid for their lack of understanding and attention, with the loss of their futures, their houses, their jobs and sometimes their lives. When youread this little book, and a good one it is, you will realize that when you fail to regulate wisely and consistently, when you allow people to make money without the sweat of theor own browns, in sums that exceed comprehension, you realize whyGreat Depressions, Real Estate Bubbles, and Fiscal Cliffs spring up to realign our priorities. Back in 1929 there was no Securities and Exchange Commission, no Federal watchdogs, and the various states were unable to do anything to restraign the interstate (now multinational) corporations, and the result was pretty much 12 years of chaos and desperation.... With this book under your beelt, or at least on your bookshelf, you may well be wiser and hopefully better prepared to read the signs of the times....

4 people found this helpful

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Shawn S. Sullivan

Starts stong, loses pace. A weak entry for the Pivotal Moment Series.

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2006

Verified Purchase

Rainbow's End, by Maury Klein could have been a good book. In fact, it should have been a great historical read about America during the Roaring Twenties, leading up to and precipitating the Crash and the Depression. But Klein falls far short and disappoints with this entry into the "Pivotal Moments in American History" published by the Oxford University Press. This volume seemingly couldn't decide whether to be decidedly research based or, as with others in this series, to be a narrative form "that can be read for pleasure and instruction by anyone with an interest in its subject", according to it editors, David Hackett Fischer and James M. McPherson.

The book's prologue "The Summer of Fun, 1929" is clearly its highlight, certainly a dubious distinction. "In the summer of 1929 much of America was on an artificial high. It was a high born not of drugs but of an illusion that the prosperity and the good times then being enjoyed were made of new miracle ingredients that would last forever." Klein paints a vivid portrait of life in America in his early pages but sadly does not follow along in that form.

Throughout the book the reader cannot help but think that this is more of a reporter giving much more detail than needed, literally day by day of the Dow and the New York Times Index, often in the absolute and without percentages so one gets a relative idea of what was going on. Additionally, and quite strangely, Klein doesn't weave into his writing the many causes of the Crash and also poorly differentiates between the Crash and the Depression. One gets the idea that if he were to take out long and seemingly unrelated passages such as one on Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson and much of the above mentioned ticker tape readings he would have had ample room to discuss not only the causes and effects of the Crash but also would have been able to maintain the narrative style in the beginning of Rainbow's End.

To Klein's credit he does a very good job with the Coolidge and Hoover administrations and in his discussions on the nascent stages of the Federal Reserve. He also drives home the point of a much smaller federal government role in the years prior to FDR and its lack of ability to "rescue" a calamitous market and the resultant depressed economy, "Federal purchase of goods and services totaled about 1.3 percent of GNP and federal construction a tiny 2 percent, hardly enough to serve as a prime stimulant".

Perhaps the saddest part of this writing is that, in its current form, much could be done to improve it. Little to no additional research is needed. Just a rewrite and more color and less droning on and on about redundant economic and market statistics. This book, in its research and obvious talents of its author, fails to make an interesting topic captivating to the reader. Clearly a laggard in this fabulous series.

12 people found this helpful

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zel22

Fascinating for a select group

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2016

Verified Purchase

Having read Mr. Klein's "A Call To Arms" I knew what I was in for with this highly detailed and minutia-filled account of the economy, markets and most importantly the people involved in the 1920's Stock Market. This is more of an economics text than a piece of light reading, unless, like me you are a history buff, possess an MBA in Economics, and are an investor. If you are any of the former, this will definitely put some very interesting information in your pocket for the next time you sit down with your fellow economists. You may even keep them awake!

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

sarvesh

Describes environment before and after the crash

Reviewed in India on April 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

Read it to get an understanding of the mood of people, banks and institutions before, during and after the crash

See all reviews

Rainbow's End: The Crash of 1929 (Pivotal Moments in American History) 1st Edition

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