Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and Fdr's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism

The epic story of FDR's fight for the soul of American capitalism--from award-winning journalist Diana B. Henriques, author of The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust

"I thought I was well versed in the New Deal, but it turns out I knew next to nothing. Diana Henriques's chronicle is meticulous, illuminating, and riveting."--Kurt Andersen, New York Times bestselling author of Evil Geniuses and Fantasyland

Taming the Street describes how President Franklin D. Roosevelt battled to regulate Wall Street in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression. With deep reporting and vivid storytelling, Diana B. Henriques takes readers back to a time when America's financial landscape was a jungle ruled by the titans of vast wealth, largely unrestrained by government. Roosevelt ran for office in 1932 vowing to curb that ruthless capitalism and make the world of finance safer for ordinary savers and investors. His deeply personal campaign to tame the Street is one of the great untold dramas in American history.

Success in this political struggle was far from certain for FDR and his New Deal allies, who included the political dynasty builder Joseph P. Kennedy and the future Supreme Court justice William O. Douglas. Wall Street's old guard, led by New York Stock Exchange president Richard Whitney, fought every new rule to the "last legal ditch." That clash--between two sharply different visions of financial power and federal responsibility--has shaped how "other people's money" is managed in the United States to this day.

As inequality once again reaches Jazz Age levels, Henriques brings to life a time when the system worked--an idealistic moment when ordinary Americans knew what had to be done and supported leaders who could do it. A vital history and a riveting true-life thriller, Taming the Street raises an urgent and troubling question: What does capitalism owe to the common good?

Author: Diana B. Henriques
Publisher: Random House
Published: 09/12/2023
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
ISBN: 9780593132647


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 04/01/2023 pg. 15
Publishers Weekly 07/03/2023
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2023

About the Author
Diana B. Henriques is the author of The White Sharks of Wall Street and Fidelity's World. She is a longtime business correspondent for The New York Times as well as a Polk Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist. She won several awards for her work on the Times's coverage of the Madoff scandal and was part of the team recognized as a Pulitzer finalist for its coverage of the financial crisis of 2008. She lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.