1929

Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation

De: Andrew Ross Sorkin

Narrado por: Andrew Ross Sorkin

“It is one of the best narrative histories I’ve read.”—Judge Glock, The Wall Street Journal

Named a Most Anticipated Book by New York Times Books Review, TIME, Washington Post, Associated Press, Town & Country, New York Post, and more

From the bestselling author of Too Big to Fail, “the definitive history of the 2008 banking crisis,” (The Atlantic) comes a riveting narrative of the most infamous stock market crash in history—one with ripple effects that still shape our society today.

In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and panicked traders, another drama unfolded—one of visionaries and fraudsters, titans and dreamers, euphoria and ruin.

With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin takes listeners inside the chaos of the crash, behind the scenes of a raging battle between Wall Street and Washington and the larger-than-life characters whose ambition and naivete in an endless boom led to disaster. The dizzying highs and brutal lows of this era eerily mirror today’s world—where markets soar, political tensions mount, and the fight over financial influence plays out once again.

This is not just a story about money. 1929 is a tale of power, psychology, and the seductive illusion that this time is different. It’s about disregarded alarm bells, financiers who fell from grace, and skeptics who saw the crash coming—only to be dismissed until it was too late.

Hailed as a landmark book, Too Big to Fail reimagined how financial crises are told. Now, with 1929, Sorkin delivers an immersive, electrifying account of the most pivotal market collapse of all time—with lessons that remain as urgent as ever. More than just a history, 1929 is a crucial blueprint for understanding the cycles of speculation, the forces that drive financial upheaval, and the warning signs we ignore at our peril.

©2025 Andrew Ross Sorkin (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“In 1929 Andrew Ross Sorkin brings the drama of the crash to a high pitch. He has consulted weather reports, diaries, architectural records and every newspaper imaginable to create a vivid and historically accurate account of the boom, crash, and aftermath. Although Mr. Sorkin offers hints that the crash looms larger in our memory than it did in the moment, his focus is on portraying the lives of the people who lived through it. It is one of the best narrative histories I’ve read.”—Judge Glock, The Wall Street Journal

“Sorkin's vivid and forensic account . . . is a real eye-opener . . . a work of true scholarship, the fruits of eight years of research by Sorkin drawing on an extensive array of materials, including personal correspondence and unpublished papers whose details have been woven into the story of the Great Crash for the first time. 1929 will have a distinct place within the Great Crash/Depression genre, just as did Too Big to Fail and for the same reasons—a people’s tragedy told through the lens of the leading players and their personalities, friends and families.”—The Financial Times

“Andrew Ross Sorkin has done it again. 1929 is mesmerizing from beginning to end—a deeply important book. Like Too Big to Fail, it’s a masterclass in narrative nonfiction, a dazzling tale of a pivotal moment in history brought to life through meticulous reporting. The colorful characters, the politics, the financial mania—it all unfolds with eerie relevance. You feel like you’re reading about today. I was blown away.”—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin

Well researched and well told history

The story focuses on the people, the most important actors, involved in what happened at the end of 1929 and the preceding years. My attention was held from start to finish.

I have one criticism of the narrator. If you’re going to be a professional narrator and you have a difficulty with pronunciation, get a voice coach or do something to fix it. The reader can’t pronounce the sound of the letter “t” within a word. In the book, every time a word has a t sound, he pronounces it with a d sound. The word important is a perfect example. This word must be used 100+ times through the story. He pronounces it every single time as impordant.
It’s a small thing, but like drops of water on someone’s forehead begin as insignificant, through continual repetition, becomes water torture. Come on man, be a professional narrator and fix your problem with your t’s.

Book quality.

Kind of drops off toward the end. Needed more content, say another year of content and research.

1929

Very good inside of the fall Wall Street back in 1929. The money was so big.

Andrew Ross Sorkin has written a worthy read

Well written and interesting. He tells a story unknown to most. I like that the author read the book; once he got rolling he was a pleasure to listen to

Excellent and valuable lessons learned

I had only ever heard stories about the great crash from my grandparents, so I’m thankful that this book was written in a way that was easy for me to understand. I thought the author did a great job reading it and making it interesting for me to pay attention to on a subject that could easily get tiresome. Fascinating information and hopefully not a foreshadowing of what is going to happen underneath the current regime I fear the Trump administration will eventually drive our economy beneath the cellar.

Very thorough very detailed

I had trouble putting this audiobook down. I wanted to keep listening to it. Very detailed that’s really nice to know what happened back then so hopefully we can learn from previous mistakes. But we won’t.

Captivating!

This book serves to set straight the foolishness of surface-level assumptions about the chaos of the crash and following depression of 1929. The character development draws the reader in in a most spectacular way.

Are We Listening?

The lack of trust of federal government and the financial entities of Wall Street along with far too much debt/credit are the common themes pointing to this terrible date in history. Lies, coverup and misinformation at the highest levels led to the downhill spiral that crashed the market and the subsequent Great Depression that lasted for years, all in the name of protecting each other's wealth and power. (Stop me, if your've heard this one before.) If we don't learn, we can't say, we weren't warned. This is a book that fully examines and explains how this happened slowly, quietly and under our exuberant, giddy noses as we listened to those who kept telling us things were great and only getting better and better. As the stealth magician tells us, watch what I'm doing over here, not over there as your money disappears seemingly before your eyes. This did not happen quickly, as many of us believed and there was opportunity after opportunity to stop the carnage for the average American but the cost was too high for Wall Street and Pennsylvania Ave. Mr. Sorkin deserves a medal for opening up the dusty bins and forgotten letters to share with us now, a century later, how these wealthy, powerful privileged men almost ruined this country and what was really going on behind the scenes as they ridiculed the average American for their naiveté with the stock market while publicly proclaiming all is well and grabbing their dollars. This is a wake-up call. I cannot recommend this book enough. Thank you Andrew Ross-Sorkin.

History explained

Worth the time but no hint about the present situation and what a person should do

A great read with lots of details

This book had a lot of details and told the story of 1929 in a way that hasn't been told elsewhere. It was great that he went beyond 1929 to tell what happened to the key players afterwards with court cases and untimely deaths etc. I would probably listen again to capture all the details. He did a very good job reading it as well. I listened at 1.7x and it a very comfortable lesson.