Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929 by Karen Blumenthal
Blumenthal, Karen. 2002. Six Days in October: The Stock Market Crash of 1929. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 0-689-84276-7.
The cover of this book captures attention with newspaper clippings of slumping stock prices, hand-written documents, a photo of the crowds filling Wall Street, and a well-suited young man selling off his fancy automobile. Blumenthal successfully integrates well-researched documentation, modern interpretations of an American stock market in its infancy, accounts of naive investors, crooked investors, and sidebars with mini-lessons on financial terminology and methodology. It is fascinating to learn of the history behind the modern-day stock market and its traditions. Familiar names like Groucho Marx, J.P. Morgan, Walter Chrysler and Charles Swab litter the book, drawing in readers from generations removed. Several factors attributing to the fall of the stock market are discussed, including unethical methods of investing and greedy, emotionally driven investors. Cartoons, photos, and news clippings keep the reader moving and the format engaging. Outstanding in clarity, Blumenthal has produced a book that is highly educational and rather entertaining.
"This fast-paced, gripping (and all-too-timely) account of the market crash of October 1929 puts a human face on the crisis. Blumenthal, the Dallas bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, sets the scene in the affluent post--Great War society: she reproduces the famous January 1929 cartoon from Forbes magazine (a frenetic crowd grasping at a ticker tape) and her statement 'Executives who had spent their lives building solid reputations cut secret deals in pursuit of their own stock-market reiches' may send a shiver down the spines of older readers aware of recent corporate scandals. The author deciphers market terms such as bull and bear, stock and bond in lucidly worded sidebars and describes the convergence of speculation, optimism, and greed that primed the market for failure. Throughout, Blumenthal relates the impact of historical developments on everyday citizends. Supported by archival photographs, cartoons, and documents, the text is rife with atmospheric detail about the customs of the stock exchange (from buttonhole flowers to the opening and closing gongs). Other asides, such as the first appearance of women on the exchange floor, or the rise (and fall) of immigrant Michael J. Meehan, who championed the stock of Radio Corporation, continue to keep the focus on the human element. Blumenthal ably chronicles the six-day descent and exposes the personalities, backroom machinations and scandals while debunking several popular myths about the crash (e.g., that it caused mass suicide and the Great Depression). A compelling portrait of a defining moment in American history."
Publishers Weekly; October 2, 2002, Vol. 249 Issue 35.
"Blumenthal, the Dallas bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, reviews the dramatic market plunge that, significantly, pulled the fiscal rug out from under Mom and Pop investors as well as Wall Street high rollers. Economic terms and concepts needed to digest the complex forces at play are admirably presented in timely, cogent sidebars. Carefully selected case studies of nonfinanciers who lost it all (an unnamed care dealer and the famous Groucho Marx) demonstrate the precipitous slide from paper wealth to destitution, and in-depth examination of the careers of RCA specialist Michael Meehan and GM president William Durant disclose the unregulated machinations that paved the way for disaster. The day-by-day account not only allows Blumenthal to break down issues for a teen audience but also to examine the administrative decisions that steered the six-day course of the crash. While the author makes no avert comparisons to the dotcom bubble of recent memory, to Americans' love affair with overextended credit, or to CEOs whose financial parachutes open just before their corporations crash, readers with a driving interest in the stock market can hardly fail to draw their own parallels. Black-and-white photos, document reproductions, and period cartoons are included; source notes and an index are appended."
Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books; December 2002, v. 56 no. 4.
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