Description
Book SynopsisIntroducing the new Fisher Investment Series, comprised of engaging and informative titles written by renowned money manager and bestselling author Ken Fisher. This series offers essential insights into the worlds of investing and finance.
Trade Review“…trawl through the biographies of those who have made the markets move for some of the right – and wrong – reasons.” (
FT's Investment Adviser, Monday 18th February 2008)
Table of ContentsPreface xvii
Acknowlegments xxi
Foreword xxiii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER ONE The Dinosaurs 7
MAYER AMSCHEL ROTHSCHILD
Out of the Ghetto and into the Limelight 10
NATHAN ROTHSCHILD
When Cash Became King—and Credit Became Prime Minister 13
STEPHEN GIRARD
The First Richest Man in America Financed Privateers 17
JOHN JACOB ASTOR
A One-Man Conglomeration 20
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT
A Man Above The Law 23
GEORGE PEABODY
A Finder of Financing and Financiers 26
JUNIUS SPENCER MORGAN
The Last of the Modern Manipulators 29
DANIEL DREW
Much “To Drew” About Nothing 32
JAY COOKE
Stick To Your Knitting 36
CHAPTER TWO Journalists and Authors 39
CHARLES DOW
His Last Name Says It All 41
EDWARD JONES
You Can’t Separate Rodgers and Hammerstein 44
THOMAS W. LAWSON
“Stock Exchange Gambling is the Hell of it All . . . ” 47
B.C. FORBES
He Made Financial Reporting Human 51
EDWIN LEFEVRE
You Couldn’t Separate His Facts from His Fiction 53
CLARENCE W. BARRON
A Heavyweight Journalist 56
BENJAMIN GRAHAM
The Father of Security Analysis 59
ARNOLD BERNHARD
The Elegance of Overview on a Single Page 63
LOUIS ENGEL
One Mind that Helped Make Millions More 67
CHAPTER THREE Investment Bankers and Brokers 71
AUGUST BELMONT
He Represented Europe’s Financial Stake in America 74
EMANUEL LEHMAN AND HIS SON PHILIP
Role Models For So ManyWall Street Firms 77
JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN
History’s Most Powerful Financier 80
JACOB H. SCHIFF
The Other Side of the Street 84
GEORGE W. PERKINS
He Left the Comfy House of Morgan to Ride a Bull Moose 87
JOHN PIERPONT “JACK” MORGAN, JR.
No One Ever Had Bigger Shoes to Fill 90
THOMAS LAMONT
The Beacon for a Whole Generation 94
CLARENCE D. DILLON
He Challenged Tradition and Symbolized the ChangingWorld 98
CHARLES E. MERRILL
The Thundering Herd Runs Amok in the Aisles of the Stock Market’s Supermarket 101
GERALD M. LOEB
The Father of Froth—He Knew the Lingo, Not the Logic 104
SIDNEY WEINBERG
The Role Model for Modern Investment Bankers 108
CHAPTER FOUR The Innovators 113
ELIAS JACKSON “LUCKY” BALDWIN
When You’re Lucky, You Can Go Your OwnWay 116
CHARLES T. YERKES
He Turned Politics into Monopolistic Power 120
THOMAS FORTUNE RYAN
America’s First Holding Company 123
RUSSELL SAGE
A Sage for all Seasons 126
ROGER W. BABSON
Innovative Statistician and NewsletterWriter 129
T. ROWE PRICE
Widely Known as the Father of Growth Stocks 133
FLOYD B. ODLUM
The Original Modern Corporate Raider 137
PAUL CABOT
The Father of Modern Investment Management 141
GEORGES DORIOT
The Father of Venture Capital 145
ROYAL LITTLE
The Father of Conglomerates 149
CHAPTER FIVE Bankers and Central Bankers 153
JOHN LAW
The Father of Central BankingWasn’t Very Fatherly 157
ALEXANDER HAMILTON
The Godfather of American Finance 161
NICHOLAS BIDDLE
A Civilized Man Could Not Beat a Buccaneer 164
JAMES STILLMAN
Psychic Heads America’s Largest Bank 167
FRANK A. VANDERLIP
A Role Model for AnyWall StreetWanna-Be 171
GEORGE F. BAKER
Looking Before Leaping Pays off 174
AMADEO P. GIANNINI
Taking the Pulse ofWall Street Out of New York 177
PAUL M. WARBURG
Founder and Critic of Modern American Central Banking 180
BENJAMIN STRONG
Had Strong Been Strong the Economy Might Have Been, Too 183
GEORGE L. HARRISON
No, This Isn’t the Guy From the Beatles 187
NATALIE SCHENK LAIMBEER
Wall Street’s First Notable Female Professional 190
CHARLES E. MITCHELL
The Piston of the Engine that Drove the Roaring 20s 192
ELISHA WALKER
America’s Greatest Bank Heist—Almost 195
ALBERT H. WIGGIN
Into the Cookie Jar 198
CHAPTER SIX New Deal Reformers 203
E.H.H. SIMMONS
One of the Seeds of Too Much Government 206
WINTHROP W. ALDRICH
A Blue Blood Who Saw Red 209
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY
Founding Chairman of the SEC 212
JAMES M. LANDIS
The Cop Who Ended Up in Jail 216
WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS
The Supreme Court Judge onWall Street? 220
CHAPTER SEVEN Crooks, Scandals, and Scalawags 225
CHARLES PONZI
The Ponzi Scheme 228
SAMUEL INSULL
He “Insullted”Wall Street and Paid the Price 231
IVAR KREUGER
He PlayedWith Matches and Got Burned 235
RICHARD WHITNEY
Wall Street’s Juiciest Scandal 239
MICHAEL J. MEEHAN
The First Guy Nailed by the SEC 243
LOWELL M. BIRRELL
The Last of the Great Modern Manipulators 246
WALTER F. TELLIER
The King of the Penny Stock Swindles 250
JERRY AND GERALD RE
A Few Bad Apples Can Ruin the Whole Barrel 254
CHAPTER EIGHT Technicians, Economists, and Other Costly Experts 257
WILLIAM P. HAMILTON
The First Practitioner of Technical Analysis 260
EVANGELINE ADAMS
By Watching the Heavens She Became a Star 263
ROBERT RHEA
He Transformed Theory into Practice 266
IRVING FISHER
TheWorld’s Greatest Economist of the 1920s, or Why You Shouldn’t Listen to Economists—Particularly Great Ones 270
WILLIAM D. GANN
Starry-Eyed Traders “Gann” an Angle Via Offbeat Guru 274
WESLEY CLAIR MITCHELL
Wall Street’s Father of Meaningful Data 278
JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES
The Exception Proves the Rule I 281
R.N. ELLIOTT
Holy Grail or Quack? 285
EDSON GOULD
The Exception Proves the Rule II 289
JOHN MAGEE
Off the Top of the Charts 292
CHAPTER NINE Successful Speculators, Wheeler-Dealers, and Operators 295
JAY GOULD
Blood Drawn and Blood Spit—Gould or Ghoul-ed? 298
“DIAMOND” JIM BRADY
Lady LuckWas on His Side—Sometimes 302
WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT
He Proved His FatherWrong 305
JOHN W. GATES
What Can You Say About a Man Nicknamed “Bet-a-Million”? 308
EDWARD HARRIMAN
Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick 311
JAMES J. HILL
When Opportunity Knocks 314
JAMES R. KEENE
Not Good Enough for Gould, But Too Keen for Anyone Else 317
HENRY H. ROGERS
Wall Street’s Bluebeard: “Hoist the Jolly Roger!” 320
FISHER BROTHERS
Motortown Moguls 323
JOHN J. RASKOB
Pioneer of Consumer Finance 327
ARTHUR W. CUTTEN
Bully the Price, Then Cut’n Run 330
BERNARD E. “SELL ’EM BEN” SMITH
The Rich Chameleon 333
BERNARD BARUCH
HeWon and Lost, But Knew When to Quit 337
CHAPTER TEN Unsuccessful Speculators, Wheeler-Dealers, and Operators 341
JACOB LITTLE
The First to Do so Much 343
JAMES FISK
If You Knew Josie Like He Knew Josie, You’d Be Dead Too! 346
WILLIAM CRAPO DURANT
Half Visionary Builder, HalfWild Gambler 349
F. AUGUSTUS HEINZE
Burned by Burning the Candle at Both Ends 353
CHARLES W. MORSE
Slick and Cold as Ice, Everything He Touched . . . Melted 357
ORIS P. AND MANTIS J. VAN SWEARINGEN
He Who Lives by Leverage, Dies by Leverage 360
JESSE L. LIVERMORE
The Boy Plunger and Failed Man 364
CHAPTER ELEVEN Miscellaneous, But Not Extraneous 369
HETTY GREEN
The Witch’s Brew, or . . . It’s Not Easy Being Green 371
PATRICK BOLOGNA
The Easy Money—Isn’t 375
ROBERT R. YOUNG
And It’s Never Been the Same Since 378
CYRUS S. EATON
Quiet, Flexible, and Rich 381
Conclusion 385
Appendix 387
Index 419
