My old friend Nick Cohen (author of the excellent Waiting for the Etonians and What's Left and Observer columnist extraordinaire) reminded me yesterday that Galbraith's The Great Crash 1929 (first published in 1964) has a long section on Ivar Kreuger. My edition dates from 1992 although I don't recall reading it since my student days much longer ago – anyway, a 17-plus year gap is my excuse for my having forgotten about Krueger. And re-reading sections of The Great Crash 1929 this morning, it's clear this must be one of the shortlist of essential books for understanding the present Crash. Galbraith is a terrific storyteller and this short financial history of the period captures pretty much the essential points. I'm particularly taken with this observation:

“The signal feature of the mass escape from reality that occurred in 1929 and before – and which has characterized every previous speculative outburst from the South Sea Bubble to the Florida land boom – was that it carried Authority with it. Governments were either as bemused as were the speculators or they deemed it unwise to be sane at a time when sanity exposed one to ridicule, condemnation for spoiling the game, or the threat of severe political retribution.”

Nick's other nomination amongst existing titles is Edward Chancellor's 2000 book, Devil Take the Hindmost, definitely worth re-reading as we wait for the classics of our own episode of financial insanity.

One new book I left out of the previous list of new titles was Philip Augar's Chasing Alpha, an oversight due to the fact that I haven't looked at it at all yet. However, if The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism by the same author is anything to go by, it will be well worthwhile.