The Go-Go Years
"The Go-Go Years is not to be read in the usual manner ofWall Street classics. You do not read this book to see our presentsituation reenacted in the past, with only the names changed. Youread it because it is a wonderful description of the way thingswere in a different time and place."
—From the Foreword by Michael Lewis
The Go-Go Years is the harrowing and humorous story ofthe growth stocks of the 1960s and how their meteoric rise caused amultitude of small investors to thrive until the devastating marketcrashes in the 1970s. It was a time when greed drove the market andfast money was being made and lost as the "go-go" stocks surged andplunged. Included are the stories of such high-profilepersonalities as H. Ross Perot who lost $450 million in one day,Saul Steinberg's attempt to take over Chemical Bank, and the fallof America's "Last Gatsby," Eddie Gilbert.
Praise for The Go-Go Years
"Those for whom the stock market is mostly a spectator sportwill relish the book's verve, color, and memorableone-liners."
—New York Review of Books
"Please don't take The Go-Go Years too much for granted:as effortlessly as it seems to fly, it is nonetheless an unusuallycomplex and thoughtful work of social history."
—New York Times
"Brooks's great contribution is his synthesis of all theelements that made the 1960s the most volatile in Wall Streethistory . and making so much material easily digestible for theuninitiated."
—Publishers Weekly
"Brooks ... is about the only writer around who combines athorough knowledge of finance with the ability to perceive behindthe dance of numbers 'high, pure, moral melodrama on the themes ofpossession, domination, and belonging.'"
—Time