History – 210 pages – my copy (paperback; 1975) bought for £1 from the Shabby Chic coffee-shop during January 2012
#32 of 2011-12 - #153 of All Time
- 3 nods out of 5 -
‘Some years, like some poets and politicians and some lovely women, are singled out for fame far beyond the common lot, and 1929 was clearly such a year. Like 1066, 1776, and 1914, it is a year that everyone remembers.’
And so begins Galbraith’s both excellent and humorous history on the events of the great Wall Street crash of 1929. This year has become all the more relevant in recent history, as the world battles in the midst of what could well become known as the Great Depression of the twenty-first century.
Initially written in 1954, and subsequently updated in 1975 (bringing forth an amusing account of the book’s originally publication, in the form of a preface to the second edition), Galbraith is a fantastic guide through the run-up to the chaos of 1929. Normally, economic terms can send readers into shut-down (the Worm admits to all, that he is such a reader); but at no point does the author threaten to over-burden us with technical terms, nor even patronise the lack of prior knowledge.
The lead-up to the crash is recounted – the countdown clock beating down, year by year, month by month, day by day – to the black week in October 1929; to the point at which Galbraith modestly acclaims: ‘Things Become More Serious.’ Analysed is the myth of boom and bust, as well as the enduring myth of suicides from the resulting fallout. Although Galbraith breezes by the actual nitty gritty of October 1929, for a book of a mere two hundred pages (a fast read indeed), what is contained is worthy and enlightening.
Entertaining and knowledgeable throughout, Galbraith’s history has its limitations. But for those who wish to step inside the world of the 1920s bull market, of the collapse of finance and the beginnings of what would become the Great Depression of the twentieth century, readers will be lucky to find a better book. And so we end on Galbraith’s warning of the use of history in helping us avoid our mistakes:
‘Yet the lesson is evident. The story of the boom and crash of 1929 is worth telling for its own sake. Great drama joined in those months with a luminous insanity. But there is the more sombre purpose. As a protection against financial illusion or insanity, memory is far better than law.’
Buy it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Great-Crash-1929-financial/dp/014103825X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330859266&sr=8-1
Read an alternative review here:
http://reviewingbooksandmovies.blogspot.com/2009/06/great-crash-1929-by-john-kenneth.html
