Overview

The Crash that Shook Wall Street examines the events leading to the 1929 stock market collapse. The book begins with the post-World War I economic surge, where industrial growth and consumer credit fueled widespread prosperity, drawing ordinary citizens into stock market investments. As the Roaring Twenties unfolded, cultural changes with business-friendly policies created an environment set for speculation. Influential bankers, industrial leaders, and lax regulators set for unchecked ambition. The book then shifts to the bull market's peak, seen by investment trusts, margin buying, and booms in sectors like radio and automobiles, while public fervor ignored emerging imbalances such as overvaluation and agricultural woes. Insider schemes, including stock rigging and corporate fraud, fueled the frenzy, often bolstered by misleading media coverage. The core cataclysm arrives with Black Thursday's panic, emergency banker interventions, and Black Tuesday's massive sell-offs, triggering brokerage failures and global repercussions. In the aftermath, bank runs escalated unemployment and social turmoil, prompting initial government actions. The depression deepened through industrial decline and international debts, exposing scandals through congressional probes like the Pecora Commission. Reforms followed, including the Securities Act and the Glass-Steagall Act, alongside New Deal programs aimed at recovery. The book closes by examining lasting regulatory impacts and the persistent vulnerabilities in financial systems driven by human impulses.

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