Ranald Michie 
WAR ON WEALTH, THE [EPUB ebook] 
Fact and Fiction in British Finance Since 1800

This book addresses the divide that exists between the reality of finance and the image it projects. A functioning financial system is an essential feature of a modern economy, providing it with money, credit, capital, and investments. Conversely, those who provide this essential service are neither respected nor trusted. The causes and consequences of this divide is explored using the British experience from 1800 to the present, drawing upon a mixture of factual evidence and contemporary fiction. Nothing of this scale has been attempted before and this is the product of 50 years of research.

Contents:

• Preface


• Introduction: Making Judgements


• Investment: From Private to Public to Private


• Investors: From the Few to the Many to the Few


• Investment and Investors: Popularity and Perception


• Banks and Bankers: Power and Trust


• The Company Promoter: Finding the Missing Link


• The Jewish Presence: The Perpetual Scapegoat


• The City of London: Jewel in the Crown or Cuckoo in the Nest


• Conclusion: The Judgement of Conan Doyle


• Bibliography


• Index

Readership: Professionals, General Audience interested in financial history of the world and Britain in specific.

Key Features:

• This book is based on an unrivalled body of knowledge about global financial history, an unmatched expertise in British financial history that extends from banking and financial markets to the City of London as a financial centre, and an extensive reading of those contemporary novels that touch on the subject of finance


• No other book is as ambitious as this one in terms of breadth and depth. It covers the entire financial system rather than confining itself to the stock exchange, banking or the City of London. It covers the last two centuries rather than restricting to a specific time period, such as the Victorian era or the recent past. It is also written by someone who is an expert in financial history and so understands what banks do, how the stock exchange works and the role played by an international financial centre


• The book is the product of a lifetime’s work by a financial historian who has made it his mission to discover novels that shed light on contemporary views of the financial system, whatever the subject matter or the time period. These novels extend from the works of the great Victorian writers such as Dickens, and the masters of the 20th century crime fiction like Agatha Christie, to those that were enormously popular in their day but now, rest in total obscurity. All these novels have been read and incorporated into this book, with the result that it is based on, not just a few works chosen because they support the opinions being expressed but an assessment of all that have been discovered