Abstract: Wall Street: no other place on earth is so singularly identified with money and the power of money. And no other American institution has inspired such deep moral, cultural, and political ambivalence. Is the Street a bulwark defending commercial order? Or is it a center of mad...

Introduction -- Banks for a merchant city -- "Free banking" and the empire city -- Civil war -- Banks for an industrial nation -- Instability, anger, and reform -- Depression and new deal -- Banks for the American century -- New crises, new opportunities -- Capital of capital : New York and the...