Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation

Edward Chancellor

Is speculation a destructive force that feeds on greed and fear, or a useful part of how capitalism works?

At a glance

You will weigh the two opposing views of the speculator, as a parasite and as a conduit for new information
You will learn to ask whether prices have run far above intrinsic value, a question investors were already asking in the first stock booms
You will be able to recognise the pattern of disbelief turning to panic when a leading bank fails