Robert Sobel was born in 1931 and died in 1999. He was a prolific historian of American business life, writing or editing more than 50 books and hundreds of articles and corporate profiles. He was a professor of business at Hofstra University for 43 years and held a Ph.D. from New York University. Besides producing books, articles, book reviews, scripts for television and audiotapes, he was a weekly columnist for Newsday from 1972 to 1988. At the time of his death he was a contributing editor to Barron's Magazine.

Other Beard Books by Robert Sobel: AMEX: A History of the American Stock Exchange Dangerous Dreamers: The Financial Innovators from Charles Merrill to Michael Milken Inside Wall Street ITT: The Management of Opportunity Panic on Wall Street: A History of America's Financial Disasters The Curbstone Brokers: The Origins of the American Stock Exchange The Entrepreneurs: Explorations Within the American Business Tradition The Fallen Colossus The Money Manias: The Eras of Great Speculation in America 1770-1970 The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate Kings Thomas Watson, Sr.: IBM and the Computer Revolution

This fascinating book shows how the New York securities market, with its promise of great wealth and its equally devastating disappointments, is a vital link in the history of American economic growth.