Street of dreams - Howard M. Wachtel

This is the story of America's most famous street, Wall Street. No other place is so inextricably linked to the nation's history, the development of capitalism and the dramatic highs and lows of the financial markets. No other place has provoked such mythology, or has been the subject of so many dreams and illusions.;The book provides an account of the origins of this famous street. Exploring its development through the 18th and 19th centuries and into the 20th century, he charts its dramatic transformation, offering a window on the past that helps us understand how it became the centre of world finance that we see today. Drawing on original archive research, and illustrated throughout with photographs, this is not only a popular history of one of America's great icons, but also a critical assessment of Wall Street's role in the political, economic and cultural evolution of the country. Wachtel looks at the key characters who shaped the course of Wall Street's early years; he traces its wider social history and its physical development and architecture; he focuses on the New York Stock Exchange as the most important institution on the street, and includes a wider history of banking houses and competing exchanges; he explores how Wall Street has influenced politics, and how it has been shaped by larger political forces around it; and he examines its love-hate relationship with two other streets - Pennsylvania Avenue and Main Street - the forces of government and the people of America.