The Wall Street Crash of 1929 is legendary, but I’ve read relatively few accounts of its detailed history. For many people, I suppose, it’s like doing a deep dive about your favorite sports team’s worst loss. That’s unfortunate, though, because history offers many lessons. Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book offers a personal view of the crash – not in the sense that the author saw it himself but in the sense that he unpacks the motives, worldviews, and actions of its biggest movers.
The Great Recession of 2008-2009 reignited interest in the policies of the Great Depression, with Keynesian economics seeing a rebirth. It reminded us that Wall Street is still very vulnerable to big mistakes. A similar vulnerability is conveyed in this book.
In the roaring 1920s, investment bankers relied on bank deposits made at commercial banks to fund speculative investments. Additionally, people invested on margin – that is, by taking out loans. Those strategies built up a prosperous bubble, but when it burst, those tactics stalled America’s Main Streets and brought the end to life savings for many.
Throughout the individual stories, I learned that Wall Street was ready to move on from the panic of 1929 pretty quickly. But fear on Main Street, coupled with its additional adversities like the Dust Bowl, prevented a successful rebound. It certainly didn’t help that the US President was a poor communicator and ended up feeding into fear more than leading America out. Franklin Roosevelt and World War II had to kill that sense of fear before a full rebound.
This well-written account deserves attention lest we forget history’s lessons too soon. I’m glad that it received the acclamation that it did. It’s rich with historical material and learnings about human nature. Economists, business folk, and political folk can glean much wisdom for future dealings. It’s been almost a century, and we can only hope that monstrous failures are in the past because of systemic learnings. Yet reading books like 1929 can remind us of what we can control most: our own human nature.
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History – and How it Shattered a Nation
By Andrew Ross Sorkin
Narrated by Andrew Ross Sorkin
Text copyright (c) 2025
Viking
Audio copyright (c) 2025
Penguin Audio
ASIN B0DXQFKTBN
Length: 13:30
Genre: Economic History
www.amazon.com