by Barton Biggs
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Product Description
In Wealth, War & Wisdom, legendary Wall Street investor Barton Biggs reveals how the turning points of World War II intersected with market performance, and shows how these lessons can help the twenty-first century investor comprehend our own perilous times as well as choose the best strategies for the modern market economy. Filled with in-depth observations and practical advice, Wealth, War & Wisdom will help you apply these original financial lessons directly, and beneficially, to today’s turbulent markets.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 A financial view of history, 2008-09-03
Barton Biggs compresses centuries of world history, a phenomenal history of markets, and a heavy dose of investment theory into a very readable primer on how to protect your wealth in times of trouble. The book shows where losers fared ok (land kept it's value in WW2 France despite the trouble) as well as where investors did best in winning economies (example: the US). The book covers economic impacts of military decisions, where financial markets outsmarted public opinion, and where they failed. To keep the book interesting, there's a healthy dose of gossip.
The book closes with Barton's suggestions on the best means to act defensively for when the Barbarians approach the gates. He's heavy on equities, with other practical advice (buy a farm, keep your valuables at home, keep some money abroad in advance).
Is this the best history book you can find? Probably not. Is it the best investing book you can find? Again, probably not. Does the book intertwine finance, history and investing in an interesting manner? Most definitely.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Historical Support for the Wisdom of Crowds, 2008-06-25
It is an age-old notion. The investing public provides liquidity to the "smart money." A mainstay on every investor's bookshelf, Charles Mackay'sExtraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, argues "men ... think in herds."
Barton Biggs, former chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley before leaving in 2003 to form hedge fund Traxis Partners, questions this conventional and pejorative notion in Wealth, War & Wisdom. Using World War II as a backdrop, he shows the equity markets in the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan identified the conflict's turning points with uncanny precision.
The stock market, he argues, represents the collective conclusion of multiple motivated judgment of a diverse, independent and decentralized sample. He joins James Surowiecki in The Wisdom of Crowds and Michael Maubossian in More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places (Updated and Expanded), to plead a powerful case for paying attention to the markets' underlying message.
Biggs is no historian. He is, however, well-read and a deep thinker. He weaves military history, market action, maps and charts to illustrate his moral. Hardly radical, it is detailed and convincingly argued: A long-term strategy is the best way for ordinary investors to build and maintain wealth.
This is a book every serious investor should read and ponder. It is an original, absorbing and thought-provoking primer on wealth creation. Today's actions aggregated with others provide powerful clues to your financial future.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Very good, 2008-06-14
This is an outstanding book. If you are really interested in wealth and war, you will not be able to put this book down. I know of no other book that explains in detail what may happen to stocks and bonds in time of war, based on what did actually happen in the 21st Century. Well written and very well researched.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 Thank you Mr. Biggs, 2008-06-08
It took me a long time to get around to reading "Wealth, War & Wisdom." The title was the lure, but the description made me pause. The book is primarily geared to those interested in the stock market, investors and the like. As the king of the malaprops, Samuel Goldwyn, once said, "Include me out." I do not follow the stock market. I do not invest in the stock market. I do not trust the stock market. I do not know anyone who does invest in the stock market. Frankly, I consider the stock market a playground for the idle rich, and Barton Biggs' book has done nothing to convince me otherwise.
Despite my lack of interest in the stock market, "Wealth, War & Wisdom" was an interesting read. The author's focus is on World War II and how the events of that devastating global event shaped the stock market. Biggs believes there are valuable lessons to be learned from a study of that earlier era that can help investors keep and build their wealth when the next calamity occurs. In this post 9/11 world, there are plenty of doomsayers who are anticipating another cataclysmic event of global proportions that will lead to wide-scale civil disorder. Biggs, it turns out, is among them, and his final chapter pretty much recommends running for the hills (okay, a farm in a remote area) with plenty of "canned food, wine, medicine and clothes," as well as "a stash of automatic weapons that you know how to use in case roving bands of hungry barbarian brigands show up."
An alarmist? You bet, but no more than I was in my 1999 book "Surviving Y2K." But ultimately, "Wealth, War & Wisdom" has somewhat limited appeal. The first word in the title is the most significant. This is a book for the wealthy - the rich who can afford a farm in some remote area, as well as the "stash of automatic weapons" and know how to "diversify (their) fortune." I mean, really, who else but a rich guy, and a snobby one at that, would recommend "wine" as a survival item?
My own economic situation is likely to make me one of those hungry barbarians in search of Biggs' canned food (I'll take the wine, too. What the hell?) So while "Wealth, War & Wisdom" is a handy guide for those who are wealthy, it might also serve as a guide for the rest of us, the hungry barbarians who will be storming the gates of his fortress in search of those canned goods he's selfishly harboring. We know he'll have automatic weapons to defend his stash. Therefore, we know we'll need automatic weapons to take it away from him. Thank you, Mr. Biggs, for the advance warning. I appreciate it.
Brian W. Fairbanks
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Big Disappointment, 2008-05-21
Unlike his prior books which I enjoyed, this one disappoints. It might make a good PHD thesis but fails to provide any practical advice for the investor .
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