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The Great Crash 1929 |  | Author: John Kenneth Galbraith
Publisher: Mariner Books
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  74 reviews
Sales Rank: 5151
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0547248164
Dewey Decimal Number: 330
EAN: 9780547248165
ASIN: 0547248164
Publication Date: September 10, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Rampant speculation. Record trading volumes. Assets bought not because of their value but because the buyer believes he can sell them for more in a day or two, or an hour or two. Welcome to the late 1920s. There are obvious and absolute parallels to the great bull market of the late 1990s, writes Galbraith in a new introduction dated 1997. Of course, Galbraith notes, every financial bubble since 1929 has been compared to the Great Crash, which is why this book has never been out of print since it became a bestseller in 1955. Galbraith writes with great wit and erudition about the perilous actions of investors, and the curious inaction of the government. He notes that the problem wasn't a scarcity of securities to buy and sell; "the ingenuity and zeal with which companies were devised in which securities might be sold was as remarkable as anything." Those words become strikingly relevant in light of revenue-negative start-up companies coming into the market each week in the 1990s, along with fragmented pieces of established companies, like real estate and bottling plants. Of course, the 1920s were different from the 1990s. There was no safety net below citizens, no unemployment insurance or Social Security. And today we don't have the creepy investment trusts--in which shares of companies that held some stocks and bonds were sold for several times the assets' market value. But, boy, are the similarities spooky, particularly the prevailing trend at the time toward corporate mergers and industry consolidations--not to mention all the partially informed people who imagined themselves to be financial geniuses because the shares of stock they bought kept going up. --Lou Schuler
Product Description
Of Galbraith's classic examination of the 1929 financial collapse, the Atlantic Monthly said: "Economic writings are seldom notable for their entertainment value, but this book is. Galbraith's prose has grace and wit, and he distills a good deal of sardonic fun from the whopping errors of the nation's oracles and the wondrous antics of the financial community." Originally published in 1955, Galbraith's book has risen once again as Americans look for perspective on the current global financial crisis. This new edition will be published on the 80th anniversary of the Great Crash with a new introduction by the author's son, economist, James K. Galbraith. He is the author of The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 74
 One of the two "primary documents" essential to understanding the Crash of '29 November 11, 2009
Tim Bigby
If you want to know the full extent of the market manipulation on Wall Street during the 1920s, leading up to the 1929 Crash (and the subsequent Great Depression), reading both Galbraith's account and the original Pecora Commission report (The Pecora Report: The 1934 Report on the Practices of Stock Exchanges from the "Pecora Commission") is the best possible place to start. Great detail, great perspective, particularly considering Galbraith's account was written so soon after these events.
The best accounts yet of our current financial meltdown are Andrew Ross Sorkin's Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves and Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008. Think of these as the equivalent to the Galbraith and Pecora books. Anyone interested in learning what the heck is going on would be wise to pick up any or all of these titles.
Excellent, classic analysis of what causes recessions and how to prevent them November 10, 2009
Linda Schmidt
This is the classic text, the starting point for any honest examination of Great Depression economic analysis and the seminal text on the economics of deficit spending during an economic downturn.
For more primary source material I'd highly recommend the original Pecora Commission Report, which describes the Wall Street shenanigans that led to the Crash of 1929 and then the Great Depression.
For an excellent treatment of Keynesian theory with the benefit of several decades more insight, I'd recommend Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008.
Great Crash is a Great Read November 1, 2009
Michael Terceiro (Ashfield, NSW Australia)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I recently decided to read The Great Crash 1929 by JK Galbriath because I thought it may provide some insights into the parallels between the Great Crash and the recent GFC. The most remarkable aspect of this book is that the causes of the Great Crash and the recent GFC were very similar. Indeed some of the very same companies made the same mistakes on both occasions - eg Goldman Sachs.
I didn't expect such a well written and entertaining book. Galbraith traces the events leading up to the Great Crash of 1929 and identifies the prime causes in easy to understand language, However what I didn't expect was his sense of humour in explaining various events and describing some of the main players in 1929.
One bit I particularly liked was the introduction to the edition I read, where he comments on the tendency of authors of relatively successful books to explain to their readers how they were able to write such a great book. After identifying this tendency of authors, he proceeds to engage in precisely the same conduct
An excellent and entertaining read. Not you average economics text!
The tipping point for me October 1, 2009
C. Huson (Champaign, IL USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book in 1979, during the Jimmy Carter years. I was looking for explanations not only of the Great Depression but also what was happening at that time.
I had read several Galbraith books, and was puzzled by them. But the vacuity of this book, its lack of useful analysis, and its polemic style, dispelled the notion that this man could explain anything.
At that point I started looking once more, and discovered Rothbard, Mises, Hayek and the Austrian School. Not everything they wrote is perfect (I think Jude Wanniski found the most-probable "tipping point" event for the start of the Great Depression in his The Way the World Works, 20th Anniversary Edition (Gateway Contemporary)), but this book was pivotal in making me realize this man had no idea what was going on.
I would recommend you read it with the following question in mind: "What is Galbraith telling me that I could apply today?" If you get an answer you like, jolly good. But make sure your own beliefs don't color the evaluation.
And if you realize there is no "there" there, then you are one step farther on the path of knowledge.
A Succinct Treatment of a Relevant Topic August 22, 2009
Gord o' The Books (SE Michigan)
There was a time when leading Democrats were well-versed in literature like this. They should be able to articulate the need for government oversight of the Stock Market as though they have actually studied economics and history. Instead, they make their points in the form of sound bites. They regurgitate arguments that have been fed to them.
I began to read this book as a skeptic. I knew that Galbraith was a poster child for the Left. No, that's not fair. He was a thoughtful progressive thinker of the New Deal Era. His theories and thoughts informed every administration from Eisenhower to Carter. And since Reagan, no President has been able to avoid Galbraith's impact.
I am persuaded that government intervention is based on a sound economic model. But modern liberals seem only to know ideology and spin. I was surprised to find a fair treatment of Herbert Hoover and most people caught up in the euphoria and panic of the late 1920s. Modern Democrats still demonize Hoover.
Galbraith allows for the cyclical nature of the Stock Market. Modern liberals love a crisis that gives them cover for more government intrusions into our lives.
Galbraith sets his sights squarely where they belong - on the truly evil people and institutions that, in fact, caused the Panic and Depression.
We may disagree as to the amount of government oversight required in our economy. We have have different levels of tolerance for predictable cyclical variations in our economy.
But this classic work by John Kenneth Galbraith needs to be read, and discussed, by both Left and Right alike, respecting one another, and appreciating his monumental understanding of the subject.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 74
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