
Devil Take the Hindmost
A History of Financial Speculation
Edward Chancellor(Author)
Penguin (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 21. January 2027
Book
Paperback/Softback
464 pages
978-1-83731-215-3 (ISBN)
Description
In Devil Take the Hindmost, Edward Chancellor traces the origins of the speculative spirit back to the publicani of ancient Rome and chronicles its revival in the modern world: from the tulip scandal of 1630s Holland and 'stockjobbing' in London's Exchange Alley, to the infamous South Sea Bubble of 1720, which prompted Sir Isaac Newton to comment, 'I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.'
This revised and updated edition analyses with characteristic liveliness and precision the end of the dot-com bubble, the property value speculations that culminated in the 2008 financial crisis, the 'Everything Bubble' of the pandemic years and the gigantic speculations of Artificial Intelligence.
This is the story of human hopes and folly through the ages, populated by brokers underwriting risks that included highway robbery and the 'assurance of female chastity'; credit notes and lottery tickets circulating as money; wise and unwise investors from Alexander Pope and Benjamin Disraeli to Hillary Rodham Clinton and well-known leaders of our own time.
This revised and updated edition analyses with characteristic liveliness and precision the end of the dot-com bubble, the property value speculations that culminated in the 2008 financial crisis, the 'Everything Bubble' of the pandemic years and the gigantic speculations of Artificial Intelligence.
This is the story of human hopes and folly through the ages, populated by brokers underwriting risks that included highway robbery and the 'assurance of female chastity'; credit notes and lottery tickets circulating as money; wise and unwise investors from Alexander Pope and Benjamin Disraeli to Hillary Rodham Clinton and well-known leaders of our own time.
Reviews / Votes
The greatest hits of financial silliness recounted coherently and...gracefully...Chancellor does a fine job of capturing the atmosphere of the times * Forbes * [An] essential history of financial manias * Observer * An admirably researched and very well written account of speculative insanity from the earliest times to, let no one doubt, the present. Anyone contemplating a stock market venture and certainly anyone now involved should read this book -- John Kenneth GalbraithMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
500 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83731-215-3 (9781837312153)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
approx. 01/2027
Penguin
€11.99
Not yet available
Person
Edward Chancellor is a financial historian, journalist and investment strategist. After reading history at Cambridge and Oxford, he worked for Lazard Brothers and until 2014 was a senior member of the asset allocation team at GMO. He is a currently a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews and has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, Times Literary Supplement and the Financial Times. In 2008, he received the George Polk Award for financial reporting for his article "Ponzi Nation" in Institutional Investor magazine.
Alongside Devil Take the Hindmost (a 1998 New York Times Book of the Year), Chancellor is also the author of The Price of Time (Winner of the 2023 Hayek Prize) and, with Jeremy Grantham, of The Making of a Permabear (2026).
Alongside Devil Take the Hindmost (a 1998 New York Times Book of the Year), Chancellor is also the author of The Price of Time (Winner of the 2023 Hayek Prize) and, with Jeremy Grantham, of The Making of a Permabear (2026).