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Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
William Bonner, Lila Rajiva

Description:

An insightful look at how to succeed by going against the crowd

Collectively, people think and act in ways that are different from how they think and act as individuals. Understanding these differences, says William (Bill) Bonner-a longtime maverick observer of the financial world and the vagaries of the investing public-is vital to preserving your wealth and personal dignity. From the witch-hunts of the early modern world to the war on terror, from dot-com mania to the real estate bubble, people have always been caught up in frauds, conceits, and wild guesses-often with devastating results. In Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets, Bonner and coauthor Lila Rajiva show groupthink at work in an improbable array of instances throughout history and reveal why swimming against the current pays.

• Shares the deeper secrets of investing and pushes you to question what this means for your financial well-being
• Explains why people so often abandon good sense and good behavior to "follow the crowd"
• Offers concrete advice on how you can avoid the "public spectacle" of modern finance

The authors' cautionary tale of bubble economies reveals how the gush of credit let loose by Alan Greenspan has wreaked havoc on our lives-but their thoughtful and always entertaining approach also offers some sound investing principles for avoiding the pitfalls of the public spectacle, thinking for yourself, and protecting your money, your sanity, and your soul.

Table of Contents:
Part One. Mobs.

Section One. A Critique of Impure Reason.

Chapter One. Do-Gooders Gone Bad.

Chapter Two. Love in the Time of Viagra.

Chapter Three. The Transit of Venus.

Section Two. Witch Hunts and War Drums.

Chapter Four. The Devil Made Them Do It.

Chapter Five. Words of War.

Part Two. Messiahs.

Section Three. Militant Messiahs.

Chapter Six. War and Remembrance.

Chapter Seven. Empire of Delusion.

Chapter Eight. Heroes of the Revolution.

Part Three. Markets.

Section Four. Flattening the Globe.

Chapter Nine. The Number Game.

Chapter Ten. The Flat Earth Society.

Chapter Eleven. What the Yonghy Bonghy Bo Didn't Know.

Section Five. The Bubble Kings.

Chapter Twelve. Fin de Bubble.

Chapter Thirteen. The Million Dollar Trailer.

Chapter Fourteen. Central Bank Bamboozle.

Chapter Fifteen. The Mother of the Mother of All Bubbles.

Section Six. Far From the Madding Mob.

Chapter Sixteen. How Not to be Chumped by Wall Street.

Chapter Seventeen. The Dupe of Hearts.