What's Going on in Private Credit?

This novel by Frederick Turner vividly captures the Jazz Age, weaving a story around Leon 'Bix' Beiderbecke, a jazz legend known for his brilliant yet troubled life. The narrative is framed by the memories of Henry Wise, who reflects on the era's excesses and the tragic figures that defined it. The book features cameos by notable figures like Louis Armstrong and Clara Bow, offering a rich tapestry of the period's music, culture, and societal upheaval.

In this book, John Kenneth Galbraith traces the history of significant speculative episodes in the economy, from the tulip craze of the seventeenth century to the recent plague of junk bonds. He exposes how normally sane people display reckless behavior in pursuit of profit, attributing these behaviors to a 'notoriously short' financial memory that leads to market collapses. Galbraith emphasizes that recognizing these patterns can help guard against future recessions and improve financial stability. The book underscores the cyclical nature of financial euphoria, driven by mass psychology and leverage, and warns against the illusion that wealth is a measure of intelligence.

In 'Devil Take the Hindmost,' Edward Chancellor traces the origins of the speculative spirit back to ancient Rome and chronicles its revival in the modern world. The book covers various financial bubbles and crashes, including the tulip scandal of 1630s Holland, the South Sea Bubble of 1720, the railway mania of the 19th century, the crash of 1929, and more recent events like the dotcom bubble and the Japanese bubble economy. Chancellor explores how human psychology and financial practices have led to repeated cycles of speculation and financial instability over the centuries.