Other Readings

In the course of our own reading we run across books that we believe others would enjoy. These books offer a historical perspective or commentary on business, wealth, the stock market, taxes, as well as the financial services industry.

While we do not necessarily embrace all of these authors’ opinions and perspectives, we do find them interesting and thought-provoking .

Book Summaries

Wealth and Democracy
Author: Kevin Phillips

From the book: “ In Wealth and Democracy, Kevin Phillips charts the ongoing American saga of great wealth–how it has been accumulated, its shifting sources, and its ups and downs over more than two centuries. He explores how the rich and politically powerful have frequently worked together to create or perpetuate privilege, often at the expense of the national interest and usually at the expense of the middle and lower classes.

With intriguing chapters on history and bold analysis of present-day America, Phillips illuminates the dangerous politics that go with excessive concentration of wealth. Profiling wealthy Americans–from Astor to Carnegie and Rockefeller to contemporary wealth holders–Phillips provides fascinating details about the peculiarly American ways of becoming and staying a multimillionaire. He exposes the subtle corruption spawned by a money culture and financial power, evident in economic philosophy, tax favoritism, and selective bailouts in the name of free enterprise, economic stimulus, and national security.

Finally, Wealth and Democracy turns to the history of Britain and other leading world economic powers to examine the symptoms that signaled their declines–speculative finance, mounting international debt, record wealth, income polarization, and disgruntled politics–signs that we recognize in America at the start of the twenty-first century.”

View Wealth and Democracy at Amazon.com »»

Where Are The Customers' Yachts
Author: Fred Schwed

This book, originally written in 1940, takes a humorous look at the stock market, bankers, brokers, and investors. What makes it a particularly fun to read is that even today - over 60 years later - many of Schwed’s cynical observations still ring true. The author derived the title from an “ancient story”:

“Once in the dear dead days beyond recall, an out of town visitor was being shown the wonders of the New York financial district. When the party arrived at the Battery, one of his guides indicated some handsome ships riding at anchor.

He said, ‘Look, those are the bankers’ and brokers’ yachts.’
‘Where are the customers’ yachts?’ asked the naïve visitor.”

View Where Are The Customers' Yachts at Amazon.com »»

Great Tax Wars
Author: Steven Weisman

From the book: A major work of history, The Great Tax Wars is the gripping, epic story of six decades of often violent conflict over wealth, power, and fairness that gave America the income tax. It's the story of a tumultuous period of radical change, from Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War through the progressive era under Theodore Roosevelt and ending with Woodrow Wilson and World War I. During these years of upheaval, America was transformed from an agrarian society into a mighty industrial nation as great fortunes were amassed, militant farmers and workers rebelled against concentrations of vast wealth and power, class war was narrowly averted, and America emerged as a global power.

The Great Tax Wars features an extraordinary cast of characters, including the powerful men who built the nation's industries and the politicians and reformers who battled them -- from J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie to Lincoln, T.R., Wilson, Bryan, and Eugene Debs. From their ferocious battles emerged a more flexible definition of democracy, economic justice, and free enterprise largely framed by a more progressive tax system. Drawing on their words and on newspaper and magazine accounts of the time, Weisman shows how the ever-controversial income tax transformed America and how today's debates about the tax echo those of the past.

View the Great Tax Wars at Amazon.com »»

Back to Top