Andrew Ross Sorkin’s book “1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation” (published in 2025) provides a forensic, narrative-driven account of the most famous market collapse in history.
Sorkin, who also wrote the 2008 crisis definitive history Too Big to Fail, focuses on the human psychology, hubris, and technical failures that turned a speculative boom into a generational disaster.

Here are the top 20 takeaways from the book, followed by specific lessons for you as a long-term investor.

1. Euphoria is the market’s most dangerous condition
Pessimism had gone out of fashion by the 1920s. Government commissions, governors, and economists all declared boom-and-bust cycles relics of a vanished age — it was a fatal illusion. When everyone agrees the good times will last forever, that’s when risk is highest.