The Great Crash of 1929 is the most known financial event in the American psyche. John Kenneth Galbraith gives an engaging look at its prehistory, causes, and consequences with not a little bit of commentary and an entertaining brush of opinion on the characters of the story.
While The Great Crash is an in-depth look at the factors involved in the financial collapse, and by one well-versed in the knowledge and jargon of the subject, it never read as a text book or technical overture unapproachable by the casual reader. In fact, Galbraith did an excellent job in providing a narrative that was approachable and educational.
Being a reader form 2017, it was striking to notice the similarities of 1929 to the The Great Recession we experienced in 2007 and 2008. I could not help but think, "how can we avoid a future calamity?". Part of the answer was in my hands: a history of the past.
We humans continuing to repeat ourselves while thinking we have come up with something novel. If we are not read in our own history we will, no doubt, find ourselves in the midst of our own past calamities. The Great Crash is a book designed to keep the story of 1929 lodged in our brains so that we do not forget. It was originally published in the 50s, and revised in subsequent decades, but it is obvious that it's story was not read and remembered by those who engaged in the speculation and risks of the early 2000s. We would do well to give ourselves continual history lessons and keep fresh the memories of the past even though we were not actors in the stories.
Galbraith echoes this idea, "With time, the number who are restrained by the memory must decline. The historian, in a volume such as this, can hope that he provides a substitute for memory that slightly stays that decline."
His confidence in our ability to remember is lacking. And because financial difficulty is not the only memory we must foster let us be students of history so we can be agents in the present.