vii 
Preface 
opinions held by others, whether or not they agree 
with my own conclusions, past or present, in the 
hope that the reader will in this way have before 
him all the chief points of view that it is practicable 
to assemble. 
To publish the book now may seem audacious, but 
there is advantage in writing tentative conclusions 
while impressions and memories are still fresh. 
Someone has said that the “true perspective’ of the 
historian really means he waits until everyone who 
could contradict him has died! 
It is, of course, too early to reach any absolutely 
sure conclusions; nothing is more difficult to analyze 
and understand thoroughly than a panic; especially, 
a panic so great and so peculiar as that which has 
visited the American stock market. It stands unique 
in the annals of finance. But even if some of the 
views here expressed should later be found in need 
of revision, I trust this book will have served its pur- 
pose by contributing somewhat toward a better even- 
tual understanding of the problem. The ordinary 
explanations now finding the greatest currency seem 
to me far too simple and naive. 
IrviNG FISHER. 
Yale University, 
December 15, 1929.