Money of the Mind: Borrowing and Lending in America from the Civil War to Michael Milken

In a colorful, entertaining and wickedly witty history, financial analyst Grant charts the gradual relaxation of lending practices in the United States from the Progressive era, when the government became a banker and guarantor of other banks, to the 1980s boom, when banks competed to finance office buildings and debt service amounted to 14% of disposable personal income for the average American. His panorama of the cyclical expansion and contraction of credit spotlights such key figures as Arthur Morris, an early proselytizer for consumer credit; George Baker, whose First National Bank of New York refused most loan applicants in the 1880s; Chase Manhattan president George Champion; and Citicorp chairman Walter Wriston. Grant ( Bernard M. Baruch ) provides a chilling perspective on our debt-ridden economy by showing how financial mistakes of the 1920s wre repeated with only slight variations in the '70s and '80s. (June)