Taming the Street

The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism

By: Diana B. Henriques

Narrated by: Karen Murray

Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The “extraordinary” (New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice) story of FDR’s fight for the soul of American capitalism—from award-winning journalist Diana B. Henriques, author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust

“I thought I was well versed in the New Deal, but it turns out I knew next to nothing. Diana Henriques’s chronicle is meticulous, illuminating, and riveting.”—Kurt Andersen, New York Times bestselling author of Evil Geniuses and Fantasyland

A BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Taming the Street describes how President Franklin D. Roosevelt battled to regulate Wall Street in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression. With deep reporting and vivid storytelling, Diana B. Henriques takes listeners back to a time when America’s financial landscape was a jungle ruled by the titans of vast wealth, largely unrestrained by government. Roosevelt ran for office in 1932 vowing to curb that ruthless capitalism and make the world of finance safer for ordinary savers and investors. His deeply personal campaign to tame the Street is one of the great untold dramas in American history.

Success in this political struggle was far from certain for FDR and his New Deal allies, who included the political dynasty builder Joseph P. Kennedy and the future Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas. Wall Street’s old guard, led by New York Stock Exchange president Richard Whitney, fought every new rule to the “last legal ditch.” That clash—between two sharply different visions of financial power and federal responsibility—has shaped how “other people’s money” is managed in the United States to this day.

As inequality once again reaches Jazz Age levels, Henriques brings to life a time when the system worked—an idealistic moment when ordinary Americans knew what had to be done and supported leaders who could do it. A vital history and a riveting true-life thriller, Taming the Street raises an urgent and troubling question: What does capitalism owe to the common good?

©2023 Diana B. Henriques (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“I thought I was well versed in the New Deal, but it turns out I knew next to nothing. Diana Henriques’s chronicle is meticulous, illuminating, and riveting.”—Kurt Andersen, New York Times bestselling author of Evil Geniuses and Fantasyland

“Diana Henriques’s gripping narrative of unbridled capitalism in the Jazz Age and its consequences is beyond timely—it’s urgent.”—James B. Stewart, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and co-author of Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“This is historical storytelling at its best! With vivid characters, cinematic settings, and nonstop pacing, Diana Henriques brings to life a political battle from the 1930s that is still deeply relevant almost a century later.”—Joe Berlinger, award-winning documentary filmmaker and director of the Netflix series Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street

Fascinating and very informative

If you’re not very familiar with the work of the SEC (Securities not College Football), you may be overwhelmed by the detail and depth of reporting here. But the writing is clear & the topic might grow on you (as it did for me) and you’ll learn things you never knew. First, I had no idea how complex and convoluted the creation of the SEC could be, nor how long it took to mature into a viable entity that didn’t have to worry about continuing existence after the next election.

Second, I had never known of Joseph Kennedy’s work as the first SEC commissioner, nor that William O. Douglas took the same position before being named to the Supreme Court!

Well-narrated and always interesting, if you’re a history buff!

Regulation Nation

This book is a recounting of the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the early days of the New Deal in the 1930s. The author, Diana Henriques, is a long-time reporter and she provides lots of excellent detail.

There are some heroes in this book - FDR, future Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas and Joseph Kennedy, at least until he turned isolationist as ambassador to Great Britain. And one notable villain - Dick Whitney, the head of the New York Stock Exchange who was engaged in fraudulent activities. There may be more detail in that episode than you want but the author is obviously trying to make the point about the need for federal regulation.

That said, be aware that this book presents a left-wing view of the events of the 1930s. For example, the author says FDR and the New Deal brought the US economy back to prosperity when she herself writes of the severe recession of the late 1930s. The book ends with a plea for more regulation.

It's a worthwhile read or listen because it is an interesting story. But I would suggest reading in conjunction with Amity Shales' The Forgotten Man for a different viewpoint on the New Deal.