The Great Los Angeles Swindle: Oil, Stocks, and Scandal During the Roaring Twenties

After the discovery of major oil fields near Los Angeles in the early 1920s, the city, the author shows, fell prey to promoters promising instant wealth to all. In this extensively researched study, Tygiel, a professor of history at San Francisco State University, describes the rise and fall of the Julian Petroleum Corporation. Courtney Chauncey Julian, a speculator who struck oil at Santa Fe Springs, used flamboyant and creative advertising to persuade thousands of small investors to buy shares of his company. When ownership of the firm was transferred, the overissue of stock and other fraudulent financial operations resulted in Julian's failure, as well as a series of political scandals that, according to the author, symbolized the corruption of the Roaring Twenties. Tygiel provides a wealth of detail that will be of interest to urban historians and economists. Illustrations. (May)