1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation

by Andrew Ross Sorkin Narrated by Andrew Ross Sorkin

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

From one market crash to another, Andrew Ross Sorkin returns with an exacting look at the 1929 Wall Street collapse, outlining how and why such a catastrophy happened, and what we can learn from it in today's volatile world.

From the bestselling author of Too Big to Fail, “the definitive history of the 2008 banking crisis,”* comes a spellbinding narrative of the most infamous stock market crash in history. With the depth of a classic history and the drama of a thriller, 1929 unravels the greed, blind optimism, and human folly that led to an era-defining collapse-one with ripple effects that still shape our society today.

In 1929, the world watched in shock as the unstoppable Wall Street bull market went into a freefall, wiping out fortunes and igniting a depression that would reshape a generation. But behind the flashing ticker tapes and panicked traders, another drama unfolded-one of visionaries and fraudsters, titans and dreamers, euphoria and ruin.

With unparalleled access to historical records and newly uncovered documents, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin takes readers inside the chaos of the crash, behind the scenes of a raging battle between Wall Street and Washington and the larger-than-life characters whose ambition and naivete in an endless boom led to disaster. The dizzying highs and brutal lows of this era eerily mirror today's world-where markets soar, political tensions mount, and the fight over financial influence plays out once again.

This is not just a story about money. 1929 is a tale of power, psychology, and the seductive illusion that “this time is different.” It's about disregarded alarm bells, financiers who fell from grace, and skeptics who saw the crash coming-only to be dismissed until it was too late.

Hailed as a landmark book, Too Big to Fail reimagined how financial crises are told. Now, with 1929, Sorkin delivers an immersive, electrifying account of the most pivotal market collapse of all time-with lessons that remain as urgent as ever. More than just a history, 1929 is a crucial blueprint for understanding the cycles of speculation, the forces that drive financial upheaval, and the warning signs we ignore at our peril.

*The Atlantic Monthly

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Andrew Ross Sorkin has done it again. 1929 is mesmerizing from beginning to end—a deeply important book. Like Too Big to Fail, it’s a masterclass in narrative nonfiction, a dazzling tale of a pivotal moment in history brought to life through meticulous reporting. The colorful characters, the politics, the financial mania—it all unfolds with eerie relevance. You feel like you’re reading about today. I was blown away.”
—Walter Isaacson, New York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs and Benjamin Franklin

“When a story of immense historical gravity—the drama and trauma of 1929—meets a writer steeped in its scholarship and gifted with a rare clarity of vision, the result is a work of lasting resonance: tangible and immediate. In 1929, Andrew Ross Sorkin captures the moment when ambition, greed, and speculative euphoria collided to plunge America into an economic abyss, sparking the Great Depression. Through vivid storytelling and a cast of powerfully rendered characters, Sorkin reveals a nation at the breaking point—grappling with denial, reckoning, and the steep cost of excess. It’s a haunting elegy for a fractured era, and a timeless reminder that progress is fragile, choices have repercussions, and the flaws embedded in the human condition are ours to confront.”
—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of No Ordinary Time and An Unfinished Love Story

“In this glorious account of the 1929 crash, Andrew Ross Sorkin conjures up the mad euphoria, crushing collapse, and subsequent political reckoning with equal finesse. He tells the story through a rich cast of unforgettable characters and resists the urge to portray them as simple hero's or villains so much as flawed people lost in a calamity almost beyond their comprehension. This converts his saga into a timeless cautionary tale that speaks to the present no less than the past.”
—Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Mark Twain

“With a storyteller’s eye and an expert’s grasp of detail, Andrew Ross Sorkin has given us an engaging and memorable account of one of the largest events in American history—the Crash of 1929. In Sorkin’s gifted hands, this is a human drama with profound consequences for democracy and for capitalism—and it is a reminder of the fragility of the things we like to think are invulnerable.”
—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion and And There Was Light

“In Andrew Ross Sorkin's fresh and revealing telling, the stock market crash of 1929 becomes a great human drama, full of contingency and misunderstanding, friends and enemies, courage and fear, greed and generosity. Out of that financial catastrophe came many of the institutions and ideas that we still turn to in moments of crisis. But as Sorkin shows, even those with the greatest wealth and power and experience can still be caught off guard by the twists and turns of history.”
—Beverly Gage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of G-Man and The Day Wall Street Exploded

Kirkus Reviews

2025-07-03
An affluent age abruptly ends.

Sorkin’s chronicle of economic calamity is well-versed in the language of high finance and laser-focused on the rich and influential. Bankers and lawmakers share the limelight with actors and statesmen seeking Wall Street wealth. The countless unsung Americans wrecked by the October 1929 stock market crash and its aftermath are seldom heard from. This may frustrate some readers, but it’s not an oversight, as Sorkin unapologetically—and not unreasonably—opts to concentrate on power players. As theNew York Times columnist and CNBC host explains, the “bloodbath” was triggered by chicanery, “easy credit” and the market’s “general opacity.” During the run-up to the crash, bankers and affluent investors formed “stock pools.” These were a legal but “devious and unfair” way to furtively accumulate “shares in a given company,” “artificially” raising the stock’s value. Some market speculators tried to boost profits by “luring small-time speculators into” their “elaborate market schemes.” By the early 1930s, thousands of banks had failed, leaving many millions unemployed, homeless, or hungry. It’s a feature, not a bug, that this large group of people remains in the background. Sorkin announces this narrative choice at the outset, presenting a cast list dominated by bankers, politicians, regulators, and other well-connected sorts—those whose fingerprints were on the collapse. His leading figures are prominent men whom history has rendered one-dimensional, verdicts Sorkin aims to reveal as incomplete. Banker Charles Mitchell’s maneuvering got him in legal trouble and was blamed for the crash, but Sorkin suggests he merits “more nuanced consideration.” Senator Carter Glass was celebrated for 1933 legislation that protected less-wealthy bank customers by disentangling commercial and investment banking. But he only grudgingly OK’d “key elements of his own bill.” For their part, Groucho Marx and Winston Churchill took a bath when the crash came. It’s a narrow segment of society but one whose experiences Sorkin capably recounts.

A nimble history of the stock market’s collapse centers on the upper crust.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940194046492
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/14/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged