Taming the Street

Taming the Street: The Old Guard, the New Deal, and FDR's Fight to Regulate American Capitalism by Diana B. Henriques

This is the story of the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission by FDR in order to try and bring the country out of the great depression. It is hard to believe but before 1933 there were no regulations of the banking and stock exchange industries. This meant insider trading and shady deals were standard operating procedures, and the basis of the 1929 crash where the filthy rich stayed rich and the rest of the country went broke.

There was a lot of objections to FDRs attempts to put in place regulations, and interesting enough FDR was basically part of the social class of all the people who were the corrupt people who were part of the problem. Many insteresting aspects come out in this book, which at first could seem like a really boring economics story, but the personalities involved were complex. Joseph Kennedy was the first commissionar of the Securities and Exchange, which surprised me. He came off as a much more interesting person that I expected he would be.

The Times

The Times: How the Newspaper of Record Survived Scandal, Scorn, and the Transformation of Journalism by Adam Nagourney

This is a history of the New York Times, more or less since 1970, and documents how the Times made the transition from print to a media/internet company, and all the pitfalls that involved. Mostly the story of how the news side really did not agree with the business side on what direction the company should take. Lots of this books is about the personalities involved, and egos, that shaped the company. I found it interesting that the Times is still a family owned business, owned by the family that acquired it in the late 1800s.

The Doing of the Thing

The Doing of the Thing: The Brief, Brilliant Whitewater Career of Buzz Holmstrom by Vince Welch (Author), Cort Conley (Author), Brad Dimock (Author)

This story of Buzz recounts his experiences as the first person to run the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon as a soloist. As a contemporary of the people in 'Brave the Wild River' he knew some of the same people and their lives intersected. He lead a rather directionless life, but became a skilled boat person. He also achieved some fame for his early exploits, but as river running became more popular his exploits were no longer that unique so he drifted between jobs and adventures. This is a good contrast to the 'Brave' story as it provides different aspects of the same time period.