First published 2017
Diana B. Henriques reconstructs the catastrophic market crash of October 19, 1987, when Wall Street suffered its worst single day in history. The market plummeted 22.6 percent, nearly double the damage of 1929's darkest moment. Henriques traces the crisis back seven years to the silver market turmoil of 1980, following a chain of miscalculations and institutional conflicts that set the stage for disaster. Her investigation reveals bitter feuds between major exchanges, regulatory blind spots in Washington, and how two California academics created a risk management strategy that backfired spectacularly. Through extensive archival work and fresh interviews, she shows how financial leaders scrambled to prevent total system collapse as the crisis unfolded. The book connects Black Monday's ignored warnings to the 2008 financial meltdown, demonstrating how the same dangerous patterns repeated. Henriques offers readers both a gripping account of financial near-disaster and crucial insights into ongoing vulnerabilities in American markets.
Genres: history, 20th-century, business, economics, 21st-century, finance, academic, american-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, systemic-issues
Setting: California, Washington, Wall Street
Period: 1980, 1987, 2008
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