Financial-markets

John Steele Gordon is an engaging writer. Anyone familiar with his magazine articles in American Heritage knows he is adept at holding readers' attention over several thousand words.

This book reads like a collection of magazine articles. The chapters focus on different personalities or events that shaped (or epitomized) Wall Street over the last two centuries. While there are some attempts to link subjects to their past (notably in the development of rules and regulations), the book reads more like a collection from various time periods rather than a synthesized whole.

What the reader gets are interesting snapshots. And Gordon does make them interesting. Always an engaging writer, he mixes the right amount of fact and commentary to keep a credible story moving along at a nice pace. The author does justice to many fascinating personalities (Hamilton, Fisk, Gould, Vanderbilt, Morgan, Greene, Kennedy, Milkin and Boesky), and events (panics, depression, corners, theft, corruption, manipulation) that have shaped the American financial system since the dawn of our Republic. The chapters are just long enough to gain an appreciation for the subject at hand, but not too long as to bore.

This book is not a study or treatise on financial products or their development. These are mentioned in passing so as to give familiarity to the reader. But, do not expect to learn about how stocks, derivatives or mutual funds (etc., etc.) work in detail here.

While this is not an in depth study of the Street, it is an excellent and engaging survey that will interest the general reader.

This book describes the events and how the stock market came into exsistence.It mentions the events that has fuelled the market booms and busts , the regulations and new rules that were placed after each bust to prevent another bust and the great people involved -- just reminds you that their is nothing new under the sun especially what is happening in the stock market now .I recommend this book to anyone interested in the mechanisms in the stock market and how the booms and busts have created a stock market that has created wealth and admiration all over the world

If money interests you, then you should read this book. As a Wall Street professional I was enthralled by this easy read about the history of Wall Street. Mr. Gordon does an excellent job of taking us from Wall Street's unambitious start as a northern line of defense for a wilderness trading post to the its role as the most powerful stretch of pavement on Earth.

Some of the unique things you will learn include

1. Who invented modern capitalism (hint: Tulips, 1700th century)? 2. The establishment of our federal tax system 3. What structure made NY city the US's largest city 4. Wall Street's first and greatest speculators 5. The creation of the Federal Reserve System

Gordon does a great job of introducing us to the most powerful people the world may have ever known. The most notable include JP Morgan, arguably the world's greatest banker; Hetty Green, the richest (and most paranoid) woman in the world; Charles Merrill, the man who brought Wall Street to Main Street; and Michael Milliken, the world's most famous Wall Street villain to wear a toupee.

The story of Wall Street is truly extraordinary. Its history is littered with courage, greed, jealousy, genius and lots of stupidity! John Steele Gordon does an admirable job of hitting all the salient points while making the journey enjoyable and memorable. Buy this book and read it!

A great book to have to hand if part or all of your financial portfolio is or is likely to be in the Hong Kong Equity markets.

Wow, wow and more wow! This book totally rocks the house! Talk about some solid partial differential equations... this one really socks it to ya! I couldn't put it down. I wouldn't put it down. I couldn't believe that anyone would write a book as wickedly clever, funny, witty and engrossing as this.

I've read all of Feeney's works... and I mean ALL of them. This one is clearly the best... no question. No question at all. If you want to read some great finance... if you're really ready to enjoy the best there is... then you're ready to read Feeney.

Great ready for the read of your life. Get ready to see the world a different way. Get ready to go really, really deep into the financial corners of your mind. Travel to your limits and push past them to where you thought it was impossible to go. Learn about yourself, learn about the world, learn about what it takes to be a financial guru.

Feeney - the great mind of finance bringing us insights to share with the next generation. Bravo!

Perhaps the most interesting and compelling finance book I've read in decades. Feeney takes even the most complicated ideas and brings them down to levels that even I could understand. Very well written, insightful and full of telling comments on the markets from one of its true masters. I highly, highly reccomend this book to anyone even remotely interested in the world of finance. I, and all of my colleagues who have read the book, can hardly wait for the sequel... sure to be as fabulous as this version. Two Thumbs Up!

This book is useful for someone looking to either learn about or brush up on the financial derivatives markets