“Great books,” said US author William Deresiewicz in a seminal lecture at the US Military Academy at West Point, “even if they merely reflect the conventional wisdom of their own day, have the permanent power to disrupt our habits of thought.” Then there’s the claim by Edwin Lefevre, author of the thinly veiled biography of Jesse Livermore, that there is nothing new in Wall Street — “there can’t be because speculation is as old as the hills”.
Fifty Years In Wall Street, by Henry Clews Clews arrived in Wall Street on the heels of the panic of 1857 that became known as the Western Blizzard, of which the “destructive power and chilling effects had surpassed all other financial gales that had swept over Wall Street”.A subscription helps you enjoy the best of our business content every day along with benefits such as exclusive Financial Times articles, ProfileData financial data, and digital access to the Sunday Times and Times Select.