Wiley Investment Classics

How money circulates in the markets and the kinds of characters and roles they play has long been a topic of conversation by market watchers, be they investors or journalists. Garet Garrett, a leading financial writer at the beginning of the 20th century, captured the nature of these "beasts" in an eloquent and witty manner. His observations were so salient as to hold just as true today as they were in 1911.

Lombard Street in London is the original district of finance, the birthplace of the money market, and the model for Wall Street. This 1873 classic endeavors to explain the money market to investors - from the theory of a national reserve to the principles of credit and lending. This book chronicles the history and purpose of Lombard Street, the foundation of today's world economy.

The Aggressive Conservative Investor is a highly readable, no holds barred presentation of one of the most successful investment strategies. With painful honesty and terrific story-telling distressed investing and value legend Martin Whitman shows investors how to analyze and evaluate stocks just like controlling owners, the assumption being that the stock price rarely reflects the true value of the business (Lampert did this with Kmart when he analyzed the company's real estate portfolio to uncover more value than the company's revenues seemed to indicate). Illuminated by numerous case studies, Whitman and Shubik present risk-minimizing methods that also provide high reward if applied correctly. The long-term performance of Third Avenue Value Fund speaks for the success of the strategy with total returns of over 850% since 1990, and average annual returns of over 15%.

Fifty Years in Wall Street was published in 1908. In its original form, the book stretched to over 1000 pages, covering a wide assortment of events, people, and issues from 1857, when Clews began his Wall Street career to the early part of the 20th century. This abridged version captures the heart of the book, bringing this rough and tumble era on Wall Street to life through the words of an actual participant. Clews writes eloquently about the markets ups and downs and how only the most savvy investors are able to avoid the madness of the moment and buy when everyone else is in panic and sell when everyone else is in a buoyant mood. With first-hand knowledge, he discusses the careers of Wall Street’s most important speculators and financiers. And in these stories, he illuminates the brilliant decisions that built fortunes and disastrous mistakes that brought on financial ruin. As a major figure on Wall Street, Clews was involved in politics and he writes about attempts by Wall Street to influence elections and how a group of Wall Street financiers were able to thwart the influence of the notorious Boss Tweed on the financial markets.

Supermoney focuses on the organizational and institutional impact of money and how it moves through society. "The green stuff in your wallet is not the real money," writes "Smith." There is a superior currency which Smith christens "Supercurrency" -- income that has been sent through the prism of the markets. Between the earners of income and the holders of the Supercurrency is a tremendous gap -- one that leads people instinctively to the market. All investors need to learn the nature of the Supercurrency. Its power has bent the course of American business and even the seemingly precise numbers of accounting. Supermoney recounts the crisis weekends in 1970 when the market mechanism barely survived and the markets melted down. Some of the basic questions that were debated at the time are still considered: can money really be managed? can funds perform? what happens to individuals in a market dominated by professionals? was the idea that things would get better and better a phenomenon of a particular time. All this is told in the light, bright, funny style 'Adam Smith' has been renowned for four decades.