Wall Streeters
Subtitle: the creators and corruptors of American finance
By: Edward Morris
Publisher: Columbia Business School Publishing, Columbia University Press; Columbia University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 344
ISBN-13: 9780231170543
Subjects: Capitalists and financiers; Finance; History
Description: The 2008 financial collapse, the expansion of corporate and private wealth, the influence of money in politics - many of Wall Street's contemporary trends can be traced back to the work of fourteen critical figures who wrote, and occasionally broke, the rules of American finance. Edward Morris plots in absorbing detail Wall Street's transformation from a clubby enclave of financiers to a symbol of vast economic power. His book begins with J. Pierpont Morgan, who ruled the American banking system at the turn of the twentieth century, and ends with Sandy Weill, whose collapsing Citigroup required the largest taxpayer bailout in history. In between, Wall Streeters relates the triumphs and missteps of twelve other financial visionaries. From Charles Merrill, who founded Merrill Lynch and introduced the small investor to the American stock market; to Michael Milken, the so-called junk bond king; to Jack Bogle, whose index funds redefined the mutual fund business; to Myron Scholes, who laid the groundwork for derivative securities; and to Benjamin Graham, who wrote the book on securities analysis. Anyone interested in the modern institution of American finance will devour this history of some of its most important players.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: J. Pierpont Morgan : Jupiter; title: Reformers. Paul M. Warburg : Daddy Warbucks ; Carter Glass : unreconstructed rebel ; Ferdinand Pecora : hellhound of Wall Street; title: Democratizers. Charles E, Merrill : the people's capitalist ; John C. Bogle : Saint Jack; title: Academics. Georges F. Doriot : dream builder ; Benjamin Graham : dean of Wall Street ; Myron S. Scholes : professor of derivatives; title: Financial engineers. Alfred Winslow Jones : financial hippie ; Michael R. Milken : junk bond king ; Lewis Ranieri : father of securitization; title: Empire builders. William H. Donaldson : entrepreneur ; Sanford I. Weill : conglomerateur.