This book presents a delicious paradox. Mary Klein, a Professor of History at the University of Rhode Island, has assembled a remarkably detailed, wonderfully readable and eminently literate account of the decline and fall of the American economy. His research is stunning, his words superbly chosen. This is a classic of economic history, a standard by which other histories are going to be judged. And it is timely, for 2001 appears to be the rim of …showed first 75 words of 484 total…

…showed last 75 words of 484 total…microscope is a feat of research and, to explain it all as well as Prof. Klein does, it is a huge achivement. But in a hundred years, the Crash of October, 1929 may seem as abstract as the Dutch Tulip Mania four hundred years ago. Prof. Klein's work will be the memory of the event and perhaps a reminder that living through a huge correction to a huge bull market, as the 1920s was, is hell.