Best books on financial market history?

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TheContrarian
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Best books on financial market history?

Post by TheContrarian »

What are some good books on:

- overall financial market history (spanning outside the US)
- financial crisis history (spanning outside the US)

Thanks!
- @isaachemingway
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SimpleGift
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by SimpleGift »

There are many, but if interested in financial market history for its application to portfolio design (rather than financial history just for history’s sake), I’d recommend this slim volume by William Bernstein:
William Bernstein wrote:Most importantly, the short-term volatility of financial assets, commonly measured as standard deviation, is a highly imperfect measure of the actual long-horizon perils faced by real-world investors subject to the vagaries of financial and military history. These risks have names—inflation, deflation, confiscation, and devastation—and any useful discussion of portfolio design of necessity incorporates their probabilities, consequences, and costs of mitigation.
Can’t remember a book that more thoroughly "rearranged my priors" in thinking about financial history and investing.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Caduceus »

Have you read Niall Ferguson's The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World? I find him overrated, but it's an eminently readable generalist introduction to the history of finance. And it fits your criteria of being a truly global history. Coming at it from a different angle and spanning not just many regions but many disciplines is Peter Bernstein's Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. You might like that one too.

Not sure if "spanning outside the US" means a crisis that had global ramifications, or that the book has to cover events/personalities outside the US. If the former, then there are many good books on global financial crises. My favorites are Roger Lowenstein's When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, and Andrew Sorkin's Too Big To Fail (lots of clunky prose, and a tad repetitive, but it's a must-read book).
alex_686
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by alex_686 »

Can you narrow it down a bit? I have over 100 solid recommendations.

Here is a excellent free book. May be a bit too academic but it does point to other sources.

https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Market ... 365&sr=8-1

Against the Gods is another. Less academic, and a solid parallel history on statistics.

Another example, a bit narrower: Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports by Howard Mark Schilit

Part of the problem is that financial crises tend to be different each time.
Former brokerage operations & mutual fund accountant. I hate risk, which is why I study and embrace it.
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AnnetteLouisan
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by AnnetteLouisan »

The depression: a diary, by Benjamin Roth
The empire of things, by Frank Trentman
The wealth of nations, by Adam Smith
The forgotten man: a new history of the Great Depression, Shlaes
The way we live now, by Trollope
World on Fire, by Chua
Last edited by AnnetteLouisan on Sat May 27, 2023 8:44 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by martincmartin »

The Economist list from 2018:

Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.

Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed.

The Great Convergence by Richard Baldwin.

A Splendid Exchange by William Bernstein.

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Other People’s Money by John Kay.

While America Aged by Roger Lowenstein.

Too Big To Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Where are the Customers’ Yachts? by Fred Schwed, Jr.

Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller.

Americana by Bhu Srinivasan.

An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage.

Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
And recently had an article on the history of money.
Six books that tell the history of money

Money Changes Everything. By William Goetzmann. Princeton University Press; 600 pages; $35 and £30

Money: The Unauthorised Biography. By Felix Martin. Knopf; 336 pages; $16.95. Vintage; £10.99

A Monetary History of China. By Peng Xinwei. Translated by Edward Kaplan. Western Washington University; accessible here

The Shell Money of the Slave Trade. By Jan Hogendorn and Marion Johnson. Cambridge University Press; 248 pages; $50.99 and £36.99

Globalizing Capital. By Barry Eichengreen. Princeton University Press; 320 pages; $29.95 and £25.00

The Social Meaning of Money. By Viviana Zelizer. Princeton University Press; 320 pages; $24.95 and £20
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Sandtrap »

isaachemingway wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 7:51 am What are some good books on:

- overall financial market history (spanning outside the US)
- financial crisis history (spanning outside the US)

Thanks!
- @isaachemingway
soft or hardcover at amazoncom
author
W. Bernstein
topic
"How trade shaped the world"

read concurrently
W Bernstein
"Delusions of Crowds"

weave the implications and interrelationships between the two and it can get interesting or absurd regarding human behavior and financial history etc.

j🌺
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wm631
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by wm631 »

"The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes". An excellent place to start on learning about the man himself and his attempts to input into the policies of post W.W.I world leader decisions to handle war reparations and, ultimately, their own self-interests that almost inevitably helped lead to W.W. II. Keynes's theories, of course, affect modern finance to this day.

"Bubble in the Sun: The Florida Boom of the 1920s and How It Brought on the Great Depression". Fascinating comprehensive, in-depth look at the spectacular Florida land boom of the early-mid 1920s and it's collapse due to a major incident that occurred near Tampa, a couple of hurricanes and - you guessed it - greed; including too many middle-class Americans jumping in, buying lots and sitting on them, without building; thinking they'd make a killing. Until this book, I never considered the entire event's final contribution towards the Great Depression just a few years later.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Outer Marker »

Dr. Bernstein's "Four Pillars of Investing" is the definative treatise. He just put out a new edition. Very worthwhile read.
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Charles Joseph
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Charles Joseph »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 8:38 am The depression: a diary, by Benjamin Roth
The empire of things, by Frank Trentman
The wealth of nations, by Adam Smith
The forgotten man: a new history of the Great Depression, Shlaes
The way we live now, by Trollope
World on Fire, by Chua
"The Great Depression: A Diary", by Benjamin Roth is at the top of my list as well. An intimate portrait of the Great Depression as told by someone who lived through it. I found it fascinating.
"The big money is not in the buying and selling, but in the waiting." - Charles Munger
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by ScubaHogg »

Amongst others I enjoyed Money changes Everything

https://www.amazon.com/Money-Changes-Ev ... 262&sr=8-1
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by nisiprius »

Two best books yet I've read on the depression:

The Great Depression: A Diary, by Benjamin Roth. It wasn't really written to be a book, it really was a diary that was then shaped into book form by the editors.

The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, published in 1979, i.e. the fifty-year anniversary, based on interviews with people who could remember it.

A tip of the hat to AnnetteLouisan for suggesting, a while ago, The Way we Live Now by Anthony Trollope. (It's a novel about the late 1800s). I can't honestly say I really regard it as being about financial market history, but I did love the book, and was fascinated by the details of how a scam business that issued stock and raised money by pretending it was going to build a railway from Salt Lake City, Utah to Veracruz, Mexico.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Drew31 »

nisiprius wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 11:59 am The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts, published in 1979, i.e. the fifty-year anniversary, based on interviews with people who could remember it.
Conveniently enough, the Kindle version is $2.99 today. Looks like it bounces between that and 13.49 quite a bit but went ahead and picked it up.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by wm631 »

nisiprius wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 11:59 am Two best books yet I've read on the depression:

The Great Depression: A Diary, by Benjamin Roth. It wasn't really written to be a book, it really was a diary that was then shaped into book form by the editors.
I remember this one from a few years ago. A ground level account diary by an everyday lawyer in Ohio (I think). His grandson found it, and had it published. One specially fun piece of notation was in the mid-summer of 1932: He observed how low premium stock prices had become; and how he wished he had some spare money to invest in them. He was exactly right, for the long-term investment.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by bertilak »

isaachemingway wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 7:51 am What are some good books on:

- overall financial market history (spanning outside the US)
- financial crisis history (spanning outside the US)

Thanks!
- @isaachemingway
See Capital Ideas, The Improbable Origins of Modern Wall Street by Peter Bernstein

Two other of his books that will be of interest:
Against the Gods, The Remarkable Story of Risk
The Power of Gold, The History of an Obsession

They all go into history, even fairly ancient history, and cover the world.

Per John C. Bogle: "Peter L. Bernstein is one of the most thoughtful and imaginative conveyers of investment wisdom of the era." That's from the back of a boxed set of those three books.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by arcticpineapplecorp. »

wm631 wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 12:25 pm
nisiprius wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 11:59 am Two best books yet I've read on the depression:

The Great Depression: A Diary, by Benjamin Roth. It wasn't really written to be a book, it really was a diary that was then shaped into book form by the editors.
I remember this one from a few years ago. A ground level account diary by an everyday lawyer in Ohio (I think). His grandson found it, and had it published. One specially fun piece of notation was in the mid-summer of 1932: He observed how low premium stock prices had become; and how he wished he had some spare money to invest in them. He was exactly right, for the long-term investment.
often true in recessions (and depressions): those with courage don't have the capital and those with capital don't have the courage.
It's hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear. Investing is simple, but not easy. Buy, hold & rebalance low cost index funds & manage taxable events. Asking Portfolio Questions | Wiki
Valuethinker
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Valuethinker »

isaachemingway wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 7:51 am What are some good books on:

- overall financial market history (spanning outside the US)
- financial crisis history (spanning outside the US)

Thanks!
- @isaachemingway
Jamie Catherwood has a great email list on financial history and crises. @investorAmnesia is his twitter handle

Edward Chancellor's book on Financial Crises is unparalleled. Devil take the Hindmost.

https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Take-Hindm ... 146&sr=8-3

His latest book "the Price of Money" is also quite interesting.

Charles Kindleberger's Mania, Panics and Crashes is another classic.

Liaquat Ahamed Lords of Finance: The Bankers who broke the world good background to Great Crash of 1929 and World Depression

Simon Johnson and James Kwok 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown good background to 2008-9 Global Financial Crisis
Last edited by Valuethinker on Sun May 28, 2023 11:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Valuethinker »

alex_686 wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 8:32 am Can you narrow it down a bit? I have over 100 solid recommendations.

Here is a excellent free book. May be a bit too academic but it does point to other sources.

https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Market ... 365&sr=8-1

Against the Gods is another. Less academic, and a solid parallel history on statistics.

Another example, a bit narrower: Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports by Howard Mark Schilit

Part of the problem is that financial crises tend to be different each time.
Just to way in that the CFA book is an excellent read.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Valuethinker »

arcticpineapplecorp. wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 3:18 pm
wm631 wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 12:25 pm
nisiprius wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 11:59 am Two best books yet I've read on the depression:

The Great Depression: A Diary, by Benjamin Roth. It wasn't really written to be a book, it really was a diary that was then shaped into book form by the editors.
I remember this one from a few years ago. A ground level account diary by an everyday lawyer in Ohio (I think). His grandson found it, and had it published. One specially fun piece of notation was in the mid-summer of 1932: He observed how low premium stock prices had become; and how he wished he had some spare money to invest in them. He was exactly right, for the long-term investment.
often true in recessions (and depressions): those with courage don't have the capital and those with capital don't have the courage.
Which in fact is exactly what Keynes meant in his "Animal Spirits"-- although he was talking about business and the economy generally. Because we "herd" in our behaviour, the macroeconomy is subject to cycles of over and under exuberance, investment, spending etc. If you see your neighbour become unemployed, it may make rational sense for you to buy a new car, new appliances, a new house - when these things are going cheap. But you are much more likely to cut back your spending & save your pennies - just in case you are going to lose your job.

It was typical of Keynes that something that he saw (and he was an experienced financial speculator) nearly 100 years ago would take us that long to begin to figure out in a more formal, modelled sense. And we still don't agree on it. But it's empirically true that it occurs, repetitively, with each stock market cycle and with each recession.

It's how Buffet, and a number of other value investors, made their fortunes. By sitting on large cash piles until markets went into the crazy downturn mode and then buying (in Buffet's case) very good assets (with wide moats - ie protected market characteristics) when their stock prices are on sale.

Big real estate investors tend to do that too. Buy assets when markets are really slumping, and then sell close to the top. In property, you do it with bank debt - Other Peoples Money (OPM). So that means you can buy a lot of assets with not very much of your own money. On the general principle that if you owe the bank $1m, you are in trouble. If you owe them $1bn, they are in trouble.
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TheContrarian
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by TheContrarian »

alex_686 wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 8:32 am Can you narrow it down a bit? I have over 100 solid recommendations.

Here is a excellent free book. May be a bit too academic but it does point to other sources.

https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Market ... 365&sr=8-1

Against the Gods is another. Less academic, and a solid parallel history on statistics.

Another example, a bit narrower: Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports by Howard Mark Schilit

Part of the problem is that financial crises tend to be different each time.
As a solely index fund and mutual fund investor, would "Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports by Howard Mark Schilit" apply to me?

Or is it mainly pertaining to single stock SEC filings (like AAPL's 10k, etc.)?

Thanks!
- @isaachemingway
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by alex_686 »

isaachemingway wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 11:01 am
alex_686 wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 8:32 am Can you narrow it down a bit? I have over 100 solid recommendations.

Here is a excellent free book. May be a bit too academic but it does point to other sources.

https://www.amazon.com/Financial-Market ... 365&sr=8-1

Against the Gods is another. Less academic, and a solid parallel history on statistics.

Another example, a bit narrower: Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports by Howard Mark Schilit

Part of the problem is that financial crises tend to be different each time.
As a solely index fund and mutual fund investor, would "Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports by Howard Mark Schilit" apply to me?

Or is it mainly pertaining to single stock SEC filings (like AAPL's 10k, etc.)?

Thanks!
- @isaachemingway
As I mentioned above this may be the weakest book, but it does have its place.

First, it is aimed at the lay person. As these things go, it is even a light book.

Bogleheads tends to be relentless top-down. And that is o.k. as far as it goes, but it will only take you so far. And yes, learning how to read financial statements can seem scary.

But as I mentioned above, all crises are different. If you want to dig into the subject then you are going to need to dig a bit. At some point you are going to need to understand not just the macro bits but the micro bits. The bottom up stuff.

Underneath the index and individual companies and you need to figure out why these individual companies flop over.

For example, I can waive my arms and talk about how over-leveraged systems fail. Yet leverage is inherently part of the system. To talk intelligently about this we need to read a few balance sheets.

It may be the weakest book, but it is the only book in its class in this thread.
Former brokerage operations & mutual fund accountant. I hate risk, which is why I study and embrace it.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by RMO87 »

I thoroughly enjoyed learning the historical lessons in A Random Walk Down Wall Street!
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Garco »

"The Great Crash 1929," by John Kenneth Galbreath.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by JoMoney »

Prof. Jeremy Siegel's book "Stocks For The Long Run"
There are several editions of it, and some of the topics covered are different between them, so if you have the opportunity to browse through more than one edition you might find something interesting in one that's not covered in the other editions.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Valuethinker »

AnnetteLouisan wrote: Sat May 27, 2023 8:38 am The depression: a diary, by Benjamin Roth
The empire of things, by Frank Trentman
The wealth of nations, by Adam Smith
The forgotten man: a new history of the Great Depression, Shlaes
The way we live now, by Trollope
World on Fire, by Chua
I doubt many people here would manage to finish Wealth of Nations?

Shlaes' interpretation of the Great Depression is controversial, to say the least. She's not an economic historian. Schwarz and Friedman "A Monetary History of the United States" is the canonical book. People like Peter Temin have written on the Great Depression from the economic historical viewpoint. For a general history of the USA during that period David M Kennedy "Freedom from Fear" part of the (excellent) Oxford History of the United States series.

EDIT

Charles W Kindleberger The World Economy in Depression 1929-39 is old, but still a good read.

Robert McElvaine The Great Depression I have not read this one, but it seems well reviewed. US focus I think
Last edited by Valuethinker on Mon May 29, 2023 10:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Best books on financial market history?

Post by Valuethinker »

RMO87 wrote: Sun May 28, 2023 4:22 pm I thoroughly enjoyed learning the historical lessons in A Random Walk Down Wall Street!
I don't know what edition we are up to, but I agree from the perspective of having read it in the 1980s and around 2000.
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