The book reviewed is Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR’s Fight to Regulate American Capitalism by Diana B. Henriques.  It was a great history of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s struggle to level the playing field for ordinary Americans interested in investing and saving.

Diana B. Henriques is a financial journalist and well qualified to tell this story.  I’d like to thank both Netgalley and Random House for allowing me to read Taming the Street before publication.

As a small investor, I could be interested in a short article about the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) but would probably not normally read a book that promised to be a detailed history of how the SEC came about.  But because I had reviewed Becoming FDR last year, Random House invited me to try the advanced reader copy (ARC) of Taming the Street via Netgalley.  In the hands of this writer, it was a fascinating book.

Before the New Deal, insiders controlled and manipulated the stock market for their benefit and often to the detriment of ordinary Americans.   There was very little oversight.  What regulation there was, was self-regulation.  FDR thought that this needed to change.

Much of the book is about the political struggles to create the SEC and give it the power to make the difference in spite of much opposition.   There is also a discussion about the constant pressure to deregulate the world of finance and the resulting dangers.

The author’s Preface to this book is what convinced me to read the rest of the book.  I’ll just relate a part the stuck with me. (I hope it is in the final edition).  The author mentioned the SEC on Twitter and someone replied that the smart investor had no need for the SEC with all its rules.  He could protect himself by reading the information supplied by the company in the 10-K report. As it turns out, the 10-K was not required before SEC. So I hope a the person who thought regulation was not needed reconsidered his views.

The book is a long one (464 pages) but that includes notes, etc.  If you don’t think you have the interest to read it all, give it a try and if you still think it is too much, just read the Preface and Epilogue.

Highly recommend for those with an interest in the New Deal or the US economy. Recommended for the general reader.