Every Man a Speculator

“Big, boisterous, biting, and brilliant, this cultural history of Wall Street exposes Americans’ naughty ambition to worship both God and mammon.” —Walter A. McDougall, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Americans have experienced a love-hate relationship with Wall Street for two hundred years. Long an object of suspicion, fear, and even revulsion, the Street eventually came to be seen as an alluring pathway to wealth and freedom. Steve Fraser tells the story of this remarkable transformation in a brilliant, masterfully written narrative filled with colorful tales of confidence men and aristocrats, Napoleonic financiers and reckless adventurers, master builders and roguish destroyers. Penetrating and engrossing, this is an extraordinary work of history that illuminates the values and the character of our nation. “A rollicking history . . . Fraser affords us a panoramic view of decades of high endeavor and low greed.” —Harold Evans, The New York Times Book Review “Steve Fraser’s remarkable book on Wall Street explores nothing less than the history of capitalist culture in the United States.” —Sean Wilentz, Dayton-Stockton Professor of History, Princeton University “Written with verve, passion, and a remarkable command of vast historical literature, Every Man a Speculator illuminates Americans’ tortured relationship with Wall Street, from the days of Alexander Hamilton to the bubbles and frauds of the last few years.” —Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, Columbia University “An illuminating tour of how the United States has perceived its financial center over two centuries through the eyes of its political leaders, novelists, moviemakers, preachers, cartoonists, ordinary citizens and a host of others.” —The Washington Post