The 1920s and the 1929 Crash: Allen and Burns
Trader's Library #82 · Market history, crises and scandals. The atmosphere of the 1920s and the 1929 crash, described as it happened.
Author: Frederick Lewis Allen, Eric Burns · Original: Only Yesterday; 1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar · Year: 1931 · Usefulness for traders: ★★★☆☆
What it's about
Allen's “Only Yesterday” is the classic chronicle of the decade from the end of World War I to the 1929 crash, including the Florida real estate bubble and the stock market bubble. Burns's “1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar” describes the start of the decade.
What it gives a trader
Background for “Reminiscences of a Stock Operator” and the Livermore biography: what the euphoria of the 1920s, buying stocks on margin and the black days of October 1929 looked like. Allen wrote just after the crash, so he captures the atmosphere first-hand.
Lessons for traders
- euphoria takes hold of the whole of society, not just the market
- buying on margin turns a correction into a crash
- the stories of the 1920s repeat in every bubble
What to watch out for
It's social history, with the market as one of many threads.
Discussion
The discussion takes place in Hetman Capital Club (in Polish). Join the discussion in the Club →
Navigation
← #081 The World for Sale (Javier Blas, Jack Farchy) · Library index · #083 Peter Bernstein: Capital Ideas and The Power of Gold →
Educational content, not investment advice. The book description is my own summary and assessment, not quotations. Edition details were checked in catalogues and bookshops, and where there was doubt I said so plainly.