Table of Contents

Preface: Devil Take the Hindmost

1. "This Bubble World": The Origins of Financial Speculation
2. Stockjobbing in 'Change Alley: The Projecting Age of the 1690s
3. "The Never-to-Be-Forgot or Forgiven South-Sea Scheme"
4. Fool's Gold: The Emerging Markets of the 1820s
5. "A Ready Communication": The Railway Mania of 1845
6. "Befooled, Bewitched and Bedeviled": Speculation in the Gilded Age
7. The End of a New Era: The Crash of 1929 and Its Aftermath
8. Cowboy Capitalism: From Bretton Woods to Michael Milken
9. Kamikaze Capitalism: The Japanese Bubble Economy of the 1980s
Epilogue: The Case of the Rogue Economists
Notes
For Further Reference
Acknowledgments
Index

About the Author

Edward Chancellor studied history in Great Britain at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities. In the early 1990s he worked for the investment bank Lazard Brothers. He is a freelance journalist, and lives in London.

Reviews

In an era of rampant speculation and questionable investor habits, it is a pleasure to read an insightful, well-focused analysis of the events that have dominated social and economic history since at least the second century B.C.E. Starting with the speculative frenzy that gripped ancient Rome, British business journalist Chancellor goes on to provide keen insight into a wide variety of events, including the emergence of stock exchanges from the great fairs of northern Europe, the tulip mania that gripped the Dutch Republic in the 1630s, the insanity of the Mississippi and South Sea bubbles, the robber barons and their impact during the Gilded Age, the events leading to the Crash of 1929, the Japanese bubble economy of the 1980s, the Mexican crisis of 1994, the Asian market crisis of 1997, and the speculative manias that have accompanied the emergence of new technologies, including railroads, the telegraph, automobiles, radio, and the Internet. A well-rounded presentation that should be included in all public and academic libraries.ÄNorman B. Hutcherson, Beale Memorial Lib., Bakersfield, CA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Praise for Devil Take the Hindmost

"An admirably researched and very well written account of speculative insanity from the earliest times to, let no one doubt, the present. Anyone contemplating a stock market venture and certainly anyone now involved should read this book."-John Kenneth Galbraith

"The greatest hits of financial silliness recounted coherently and...gracefully...Chancellor does a fine job of capturing the atmosphere of the times."-Forbes magazine

"Entertaining, useful, admirable scholarship...Chancellor seems to have read everything."-The New York Times Book Review

"The subtle ways in which individual investors become drawn into crowd behavior is a much studied phenomenon, covered brilliantly...in the book Devil Take the Hindmost."-The Daily Telegraph (London)

"The South Sea Company is one of the great bubble and crash stories. Many books have referred to it. One of the finest is Devil Take the Hindmost."-Debashis Basu, Money Life

"Excellent."-City A.M.

"[An] essential history of financial manias."-The Observer