Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780521630290)

Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors focuses on the spectacularly successful career of financier Charles Merrill (1885-1956), the founder of Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's largest brokerage and investment firm. Merrill was the most innovative entrepreneur in the United States financial services sector in the twentieth century. He was the most important figure in promoting common stocks as a prudent long-term investment vehicle for members of the middle class across the United States. Opening more than 100 branch offices across the nation by 1950, his firm solicited millions of middle-class households and became famous for bringing "Wall Street to Main Street" in the post-World War II era. Today, American investors hold, either directly or indirectly through mutual funds, a greater percentage of common stocks in their financial portfolios than do the citizens of any other country. Based on archival sources, this book is the first biography published about the career of this major Wall Street figure. Edwin Perkins is a professor of history and an expert on the development of American financial services. Author of five books and several journal articles, Professor Perkins has testified before the U.S. Congress about proposed reforms to U.S. financial laws.

Author: Edwin J. Perkins
ISBN-10: 0521630290
ISBN-13: 9780521630290
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/28/1999
Pages: 306
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.26lbs
Size: 9.23h x 6.21w x 0.97d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/1999 pg. 208
Library Journal 03/01/1999 pg. 96
Booklist 03/15/1999 pg. 1265