The Great Crash of 1929

By: John Kenneth Galbraith

Narrated by: Nelson Runger

Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

With grace and wit, America's foremost economist examines the boom-and-bust that led to the stock market crash of 1929. Economic writings are rarely notable for their entertainment value, but this widely admired best-seller is the exception. Galbraith's light touch makes his expert analysis of America's greatest financial disaster a surprisingly engaging listen for anyone.

©1954 John Kenneth Galbraith (P)1992 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic Reviews

"Veteran narrator Nelson Runger captures the author's subtle humor and sarcasm well ... His energy and pacing carry the listener along in this detailed work." - Booklist

Good explanation for the average listener

I found this book very thorough and easy to understand, even for someone with no background in economics. The author explains things like buying on margin clearly and makes the sequence of events in the stock market crash seem logical and not too technical. Because that part is easy to understand, the wider economic implications discussed at the end of the book that were a little more technical were also easy to follow. I also appreciated that the book covered the human impact - it briefly describes several important people, sympathetic and not, and covers things like Ponzi schemes, embezzlement scandals, and con jobs that were a part of the world before and shortly after the crash, the descriptions of some of which are funny, a nice reprieve in a history book that is by necessity generally sombre. The book does a good job of describing the culture of the times and the realities - not the myths, like the hundreds of stockbrokers throwing themselves from windows - of the lead-up and the immediate aftermath of the crisis. The foreword of the book, written after the crash in the 80s, is also interesting from a 2013 perspective because it describes another economic downturn's similarities and differences with 1929 as a contemporary observer. The 2013 perspective also allows the reader to make comparisons to the 2008 economic downturn - something I found really interesting to do which was at times downright spooky, like when the author discusses the Florida real estate crisis that preceded the 1929 crash.

That said, the book was more informative than engaging. I wanted to learn about the crash, so I found it interesting, but I can't say it was the most interesting history book I've ever read, and I enjoy dense history books. I didn't want that to affect my rating too much, however, because I can tell that some of what made the book less engaging to me was the academic style characteristic of 1950s and 1960s historical writing that I've encountered in other books from that period - more recent history books tend to be more narrative. That isn't the fault of the author, just a reminder that the book was written nearly 60 years ago, and honestly the book has aged extremely well - the author was capable of giving a perspective that has endured, an impressive feat for any historian.

I did not enjoy the narration. Mispronounced words were an issue and it just didn't fit particularly well. It was robotic and pretty generic, like how anyone on Earth could read a book. Having listened to some great narrators of historical writing, I found this narration enraging at times for its mediocrity.

Overall, it is a very good explanation of the events preceding the crash, during the crash, and (very briefly) immediately after the crash. It was informative and easy to follow for someone not familiar with detailed economic terminology and theory, but the narration was frustrating and the style is sort of detached and academic, which can make some parts (though definitely not all) a little dry. Its greatest surprises are the insights into the human impact of the crash and how accessible it is to the average reader without seeming condescending or simplistic. The reasonable length also makes it easy to absorb as a whole and keeps it from getting bogged down in minute-by-minute accounts, leaving you with a clear understanding of the historical events in context and the messages about the impact on future events. I found it enlightening and it is a book a wide variety of people could learn from and enjoy.

The HIstory of the Future

I laughed, I cried, I gnashed my teeth. The best book on our current financial crisis was written in the 1960s. Galbraith is a Keynesian, but more pertinently an "institutional" economist in the great American tradition of Veblen. As such, his work is abhorred by market fundamentalists, and, alas, largely dismissed on technical grounds by modern day liberals like Krugman. Yet his reading of the Crash and Great Depression stands up today as few economics texts could. To paraphrase: Higher worker productivity and flat wages mean huge gains for the capitalist class. This produces overinvestment and overproduction unmatched by rising general consumption (so much for Say's Law), along with huge accumulations of global capital and a consequent orgy of speculation. The rich simply have too much money to deal with it rationally. Soon the rich and everybody else are riding fantastic stock bubbles that serve to disguise the wage disparity. Sound familiar? But it is the telling that is really worth the price. A wise and sardonic observer of human frailty, Galbraith is a pleasure to read, as when he describes one head of the stock market as "such a spectacularly unsuccessful businessman that his outright thefts were almost incidental." It is likewise hilarious to hear again and again in 1929 the refrain that "the fundamentals are sound," taking the words right out of Bush's mouth. More than ever this is an illuminating book. And essential reading now that the hardcore Reaganites are trying furiously to rewrite the history of the Depression, as well as the history of the last 20 years. Galbraith wrote this long before our current crisis, while the Chicago School and supply side conservatives were still touting the perfection of free markets and mastery of the business cycle.
The more people who read Galbraith, the less likely we will be to heed CNBC market thugs or elect the useful idiots of market fundamentalism.

Witty and Entertaining

I love Nelson Runger's voice and I own as many of his narrations as I can find. Now, for the book. I enjoyed this from the first time I heard it many years ago. I still enjoy it, especially when we go through yet another financial crisis. Greed will keep us from learning the lessons of history. A not-verbatim saying from the book: "American Socialism is when the corporate jets land at Dulles." Sound familiar? We are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. It should be no surprise when what goes up will come down with a crash. Wall St. danced, now the rest of the world pays. Ooh, how many more cliches can I work in here? In a nutshell, this is history. Hindsight is always more accurate than foresight. You don't have to agree with the author's opinions, political or economic. Economics has always be an opinion science, not an exact science. Also, I recommend "Only Yesterday" by Frederick Lewis Allen and read by Grover Gardner. His book is an entertaining review of American cultural history from 1919-1929. Galbraith quotes Lewis faithfully.

Excellent Case Study

An extremely dry and analytical yet fascinating post mortem of the great stock market collapse of 1929. Completely worth a listen if you are a student of financial learning. Would have like a Chapter or two more about the attempts to recover from the depression itself.

Great book; especially relevant today

It's amazing to see how often history rhymes ;) I very much recommend this book, both in spite of and because of this age. However, I have no clue how this release made it past QA. The chapter cuts seem to match audio cassettes or something since they are roughly the same length and have no relation to any sort of logical break.

In depth and good

Not knowing much about the Great Depression, this book tells of the speculators over exaggerating of earnings in the years leading up to it, and the depression that followed the autumn of 1929.

Really fills in the "gaps" the school history book

JKGalbraith breathes life into the simplistic tales of the stock market crash and the great depression that we all heard in school.
It becomes a universal story of human psychology which makes it both more nuanced and interesting in relation to the events of 1929, and more universal in relation to the inevitability of future booms and busts.

Best book on the 2008 crash

Elegant, sophisticated, erudite, funny, and above all wise. Economic commentary has not advanced at all. Very short and very good.

The best book on the 1929 crash!

What did you love best about The Great Crash of 1929?

The storytelling narrative makes this book a great listen. It also provides a significant amount of context surrounding the 1929 crash. A

Any additional comments?

A must read/listen for anyone studying the market or the economy to understand that history repeats itself. Galbraith's words still ring true today.

Great info but little tedious

Firm believer in learning from history. Another failure of this this magnitude with resulting depression will only happen if people are ignorant of basic economics and human behavior.