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From Publishers Weekly

While at first glance this seems a well-written but familiar history of the United States stock market, between the colorful characters and scandals Smith deftly details the practical and historical workings of the stock market from 1901 when it was "a primitive insider's game" to the present downturn. Carefully charting how early market practices led to wider economic and political events, he demonstrates how public reaction reshaped the market over the decades. For example, a depression-era debacle, wherein Wall Street denizen Richard Whitney borrowed $27 million then declared bankruptcy, engendered the longstanding "New Deal regulatory regime." Fluid, lively prose reminiscent of John Kenneth Galbraith and Burton Malkiel renders this serious endeavor painless to read. Unlike popular histories that jump from the Crash of 1929 to the 1980s in a few pages, this measured narrative examines changes in quiet and dramatic decades alike. Also rare is the book's balanced treatment of the evolution of academic theory and professional practice. Even people in the know will learn much from Smith's simple and elegant presentation. Likewise, those who wish to learn more about the stock market will find it accessible and enjoyable. The book's sole flaw is its single perspective on controversial theories and events. While probably necessary to cover so many years in so few pages, the book lacks depth as a result. Still, it holds important insights for experts and remains a useful introduction for novices. (May)Forecast: A welcome antidote to shrill predictions of looming prosperity or disaster, this is one of the best general works on a topic of broadening interest. If it receives the favorable review attention it deserves, it could rise to the status of a classic within a few years.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Smith, an experienced stock trader, sets out to help readers understand the modern stock market and its role in today's economy by tracing its development over the past 100 years. With more than half of the U.S. population owning stock directly or indirectly, he counsels that it is important to know how the market works as the process through which businesses secure the financing that is critical to their very existence. In story form we learn about the great financiers of the early twentieth century, beginning with J. P. Morgan, and events leading up to World War I, the 1929 stock market crash, and World War II, followed by tales of each successive decade and the players who helped shape the market. The author also details the intellectual revolution of Wall Street, featuring such luminaries as Fischer Black, Myron Scholes, and Merton Miller in explaining his thesis that the modern stock market can only be understood in light of the evolutionary processes that formed it. Mary Whaley

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Kirkus Reviews

"Smith is savvy . . . [His] history of the modern stock market . . .[is] exquisitely revealing and written with real polish . . ." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"[A] provocative look at the fitful evolution of the markets." --Wayne E. Yang, The Christian Science Monitor

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Book Description

To an unprecedented degree, the health of the American economy, and the financial well-being of the average American, is tied to the stock market. Toward Rational Exuberance tells the story of how the market came to be what it is today, providing an in-depth understanding of the theories that drive investor behavior, the vivid personalities who have dominated the stock market's turbulent history, and the processes by which the market has evolved to its present state -- elements essential to anyone seeking to understand the workings of the modern economy.

The stock market is big news now, influencing every aspect of the modern economy. Accepted wisdom has it that the market will provide retirement security for anyone willing to diligently save and invest.

Yet many people still alive can remember a very different time, when the stock market was little more than a primitive insider's game viewed by most Americans with skepticism and suspicion. In Toward Rational Exuberance, B. Mark Smith, a retired stock trader with nearly two decades of practical experience, tells the story of how this stunning transformation occurred. It is a fascinating story, involving colorful personalities, dramatic events, and revolutionary new ideas. In the course of the narrative, Smith traces the evolution of popular theories of stock market behavior, showing how they have become widely accepted over time and have greatly influenced the way the investing public views the market. But he also shows how some of these theories -- such as the notion that the market is often susceptible to speculative "bubbles" that will inevitably burst -- are based on faulty interpretations of market history that may lead investors to draw inaccurate conclusions about the market today.

The central thesis of Toward Rational Exuberance is that the modern stock market is the product of a dynamic evolutionary process; it is very different from what it was in the past. It cannot be measured simply by comparison with arbitrary historical standards, and its behavior cannot be predicted by extrapolating those standards into the future. It is only by understanding the process by which the modern market has been created that today's investor can begin to understand the market itself. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

B. Mark Smith was a professional stock trader for nearly two decades, first with CS/First Boston Corporation, where he became director, then as a vice president of Goldman, Sachs & Co. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.