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Summary: Excellent primer on the history of speculation
Review: Overall, Professor Chancellor has provided an outstanding overview of the history of speculation. A rudimentary understanding of financial markets is helpful in order to fully understand some of the speculative excesses that are highlighted. In particular, the epilogue to the work - which examines the recent meltdowns in Asia, and the destruction of the LTCM hedge fund - is exceptional. Professor Chancellor also manages to demonstrate the fundamental weaknesses of Efficient Market theory, and describe how reliance upon that same theory has aided speculative excess and financial meltdown. The professor also makes strong arguments in favor of regulation of the derivatives market. A warning to those readers who might be expecting a work dealing either solely with the United States, or alternatively, recent history; the work is neither. The work examines centuries of speculation, from a European point of view. Indeed, the US market crash of 1929 is not discussed until some 200 pages into the text. Again, not a criticism, but rather, a plus -- the work is exceptionally thorough.
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Summary: Speculation: A Necessary Scourge?
Review: Published at the height of the 1990s technology bubble and two years after the onset of the Asian financial crisis, "Devil Take the Hindmost" offers a remarkably insightful examination of historical asset bubbles. Chancellor first takes us to ancient Rome, where currency crises were the norm due to currency speculation, and where the Forum Romanum served as the venue for shady deals in stocks and bonds. Indeed, speculation as an economic activity was ab urbe condita, or literally since the founding of the city of Rome. He then takes us to Venice circa the Middle Ages, where, in all probability, some of the earliest instances of insider trading took place. A spectacular panorama of financial shenanigans then unfolds, chapter by chapter: the overblown demand for tulips in the Netherlands during the 17th century; the British debt conversion scheme during the 1700s which led to the South Sea bubble; the Gilded Age in the US; the Wall Street crash of 1929; and the bursting of the Japanese economic bubble.
Speculators absorb risk and provide liquidity in the marketplace. Arguably, their insight into market fluctuations and their intrepidity in assuming risk help lower the bid-ask spread of a certain asset. Speculation itself is not demonstrably malevolent, but is an intrinsic component of a functioning asset market. But at many junctions in history, as Chancellor prolifically demonstrates, excessive speculation had reached a point wherein prices had ceased to serve as useful signals of the intrinsic value of an asset.
Chancellor contends that speculative activities, at their crescendo, are intrinsically irrational, and convincingly argues that asset markets all too often went to excess. The potential for amassing gains through trading and speculation are nearly limitless, yet the social cost of market collapse due to manipulation and abuse cannot be ignored. The book in effect questions the dogma regarding the seemingly omniscient ability of free markets to assign prices to assets, and the ability of prices to serve as an effective signaling mechanism. This is not a new argument. In their 1934 classic "Security Analysis," Dodd and Graham wrote that "[i]t is customary to refer with great respect to the bloodless verdict of the market place, as though it represented invariably the composite judgment of countless shrewd, informed, and calculating minds. Very frequently, however, these appraisals are based on mob psychology, on faulty reasoning, and on the most superficial examination of inadequate information."
Ultimately, however, unfettered speculation may be due to the incontrovertible propensity of people to hitch their wagons to a star, and this propensity is unduly magnified by a "vita brevis" (life is short) mentality. Through this depressingly short--given the significance of the topic--yet highly edifying volume, Chancellor gives us the opportunity to reflect on speculation, which he considers "an anarchic force."
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Summary: The roots of Speculation and the skeletons in its closet
Review: Reading this book would give anyone a good grasp on the history of speculation. It was actually refreshing to see that the 90's speculative bubble was part of a long history of irrational forecasting. The set up of the book is also fantastic. Each chapter is set up as a historical case study. Going from the Danish tulip bulb market to the collapse of the modern Japanese economy. Although it is impossible for any writer not to be bias in his or her interpretation of history, Chancellor does one of the best jobs I have seen at giving just the facts. I would recommend this to anyone curious on the roots of speculation and how it has affected societies in the past.
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Summary: This is an amazing book.
Review: Stock market Bulls and New Economy gurus all agree: do not read this book! There is nothing to be learned about the Brave New Economy by studying the past! Seriously, this book really puts todays events into perspective. It goes way beyond the perfunctory comparisons of todays economy with the roaring 20's, although there's alot more to that than most people are probably aware. And this is not some Chicken Little style tract either. It takes a pretty evenhanded look at both the positive and negative aspects of financial speculation.
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Summary: The More Things Change...
Review: That's the central thesis to Edward Chancellor's book on the history of financial booms, busts, swindles, panics and manias: the more things change, the more they stay the same. As a law student taking a few securities classes and a dabbling buy-and-hold investor, the book provides incredible insight into the way markets have worked and failed since they came into existence. Written in chronological order and ending in 1998 as the tech bubble burst, Chancellor is your tour guide to the cheats, robber barrons, over-rated innovations, emerging markets and herd mentality behind financial euphorias and depressions from Holland to Japan, Britain and the States. Chancellor's greatest accomplishment is pointing to the commonalities behind every crash and letting people know how to identify the signals of future bouts of irrational exuberance. The book demands limited sophistication, but the less you know about currency exchanges, derivatives and hedge funds, the more you will be resorting to an online investment dictionary. You will have to learn in order to enjoy this book. Chancellor's subject matter necessarily demands a critique of economic and political theories, and it is clear that he champions Keynes and greater government control over markets. His criticisms of conservative political/ economic philosophies, however, are relatively restrained, intelligent, and do not irritate those of opposing viewpoints. In the end, you may not be thinking on the same page as George Soros, but this book is a great education that may even have you making better investments.
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Summary: World Investible Markets - Then and Now
Review: The book "Devil Take the Hindmost" is a history of financial speculation. Very well researched and written. However, like any book, everything depends on your point of view. Interest and/or value is relative. To some, the books may have bee written in an academic style, and to others, it may seem like easy reading. There was nothing exceptional about the book except for the fact that it was very well researched. To the readers who expects instant "eureka" of insights - this book may disappoint you, in the sense that this requires a lot of analytical thinking. The point the author is trying to make here, is when you assess how the U.S. market got to where it is right now. The phrase that may first come to mind would be "Irrational Exuberance" (which is also a good book) may not be correct phrase for it - but by excessive hubris about the accuracy and confidence of long term forecasting, which is out of kilter. The book serves as a reminder on how we easily forget the lessons of history - to be humble, and to entertain a variety of possibilities. The initial chapters of the book reminds the reader that there were "mania's" in the past that dates as far s the 1600's, that schemes were not new, and that there were "the" stocks back then.The book also reminds us that what we have experienced in the past, doesn't necessarily determine the future because people behave differently and behavior changes - that is why extrapolation of the present into the future turns out to be the genesis of an embarrassing forecast. As you read along, the book may give an insight or two on the wide acceptance of "new era" thinking - much of which is not true and the argument about whether or not is connected to history - and it is, as you'll discover. You may or may not agree with me - but the fact is - based on historical evidence and as a reminder made by this book, we know nothing about the future and we can only expect what the markets does - which often times is wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good
Review: The book has some good information and at times is a delight to read. I found the Japanese chapter uninteresting, but the chapters on the Gilded Age and the 1920s more than make up for it. The book does make a convincing case that the 1990's mirror the speculative bubble of 1929. We shall see if the decade ends in the same way as the great crash.
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Summary: Important, But Poorly Written Book
Review: The concepts are important. However, the author needed a good editor to help edit. He periodically became lost in his own moralizing.
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Summary: Slow Start But Worth The Read
Review: The downside to this book is also its greatest strength. Chancellor details the long history of speculation in the financial markets. So while the first part of the book may not seem to relate well to current financial markets, it lays the groundwork required for the historical perspective. In this light I found the book both fascinating and terrifying. Some of Chancellors arguments about market efficiency and fragility seem overblown, but all are well thought out and supported. Anyone who is interested in investing, or the financial markets should read this book.
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Summary: Superb Introduction to Speculative Bubbles
Review: The heading for one chapter of Edward Chancellor's fine book quotes the investor Sir John Templeton: "The four most expensive words in the English language are 'this time it's different.'" Templeton's words sum up the most important lesson to be learned from this outstanding history of speculation, which focuses in particular on those manic episodes called bubbles, in which the prices of assets are driven to levels far above those justified by the assets' underlying fundamentals. Chancellor's account, while not a comprehensive study of speculation, thoroughly examines major speculative periods from the tulip mania of the early 17th century, to the Japanese "bubble economy" of the 1980's. Three repeating motifs characterize these speculative episodes. First is the irrationality of financial markets, especially the way in which people of all eras are susceptible to the euphoria which inflates a bubble. Second is the constant recurrence of manipulation of markets by the greedy and unethical, the likes of Jay Gould and his accociates. The third and most important theme is the existence of parallels between past speculative bubbles and conditions in our own time. Chancellor convincingly argues, for example, that the internet mania of today is similar in many ways to the British railway bubble of the 1840's. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in financial markets or their influence on history. The only, slight caveat I would offer is that it helps a reader to have at least some knowledge of the language of financial markets, as Chancellor at times tosses terminology at readers without offering a clear definition.
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