1929

Andrew Ross Sorkin tells the story of the Wall Street crash of 1929 through a run of selected dates, from February 1, 1929, months before stocks broke, to June 21, 1933, deep in the Great Depression. His cast includes Charles Mitchell of National City Bank and Thomas Lamont of the House of Morgan, the speculators William Durant and Jesse Livermore, economists, journalists and federal officials. He shows how call money loans let investors buy on thin margin, how stock pools inflated prices, and why the Federal Reserve hesitated to tighten credit despite Herbert Hoover's urging. Sorkin spent eight years on the research and writing.

Barack Obama put it on his list of favorite books of 2025, and Bill Ackman, who read an advance copy, said it puts readers in the room as the crash and the Great Depression take shape. Howard Marks called it the best investing book he had read in years.