Once in Golconda

A True Drama of Wall Street 1920-1928

Once in Golconda "In this book, John Brooks-who was one of the most elegant of all business writers-perfectly catches the flavor of one of history's best-known financial dramas: the 1929 crash and its aftershocks. It's packed with parallels and parables for the modern reader." -From the Foreword by Richard Lambert Editor-in-Chief, The Financial Times

Once in Golconda is a dramatic chronicle of the breathtaking rise, devastating fall, and painstaking rebirth of Wall Street in the years between the wars. Focusing on the lives and fortunes of some of the era's most memorable traders, bankers, boosters, and frauds, John Brooks brings to vivid life all the ruthlessness, greed, and reckless euphoria of the '20s bull market, the desperation of the days leading up to the crash of '29, and the bitterness of the years that followed.

Praise for Once in Golconda
"A fast-moving, sophisticated account.embracing the stock-market boom of the twenties, the crash of 1929, the Depression, and the coming of the New Deal. Its leitmotif is the truly tragic personal history of Richard Whitney, the aristocrat Morgan broker and head of the Stock Exchange, who ended up in Sing Sing." -Edmund Wilson, writing in the New Yorker

"As Mr. Brooks tells this tale of dishonor, desperation, and the fall of the mighty, it takes on overtones of Greek tragedy, a king brought down by pride. Whitney's sordid history has been told before. But in Mr. Brooks's hands, the drama becomes freshly shocking." -Wall Street Journal

"It's all there in Once in Golconda-the avarice of an era that favored the rich; and the later anguish of myriads of speculators doomed by a bloated market, easy credit, and their own cupidity and stupidity." -Saturday Review

Slow but interesting

If you like hearing about Jesse Livermore, JP Morgan and the like this is for you. The story is timeless but at times gets bogged down in the details that are frankly not that important.

Debt Fueled Optimism and Systemic Risk

One of my main take away is how Once in Golconda ianalysis of leverage in the years leading up to the 1929 crash. Brooks shows how margin buying, investment trusts, and layered holding companies amplified both gains and losses. Investors controlled large stock positions with borrowed money, which worked smoothly as long as prices rose. When prices declined, margin calls forced widespread selling, accelerating the collapse.

Brooks avoids simple moral judgments which I appreciate. He portrays market participants as rational actors operating within a fragile financial structure that magnified risk. In my opinon it provides great insight into a period in history.

A must read for investors

If you're a professional investor or just working with your retirement accounts, history can be key to better results. This audiobook clarified the 1920s and 30s and helped me understand current regulations based on how they came about. Warren Buffett had this book on his recommended list at this year's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.