Wall Street to Main Street: Charles Merrill and Middle-Class Investors

by Edwin J. Perkins

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521027799
• ISBN13: 9780521027793
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Highly Recommended!

Charles Merrill is an authentic American genius and today's capital markets bear his distinctive stamp in many ways, as Edwin J. Perkins' book proves in fascinating detail. While the book works as a business history and as a professional portrait, it is less successful as a biography because Perkins deliberately chose to focus on Merrill's professional life. By keeping Merrill's personal life very much in the background, Perkins declines to bring Merrill's personality to life. We learn about his career, but we do not seem to get to know the man himself. Happily, Merrill's achievements and business innovations are well worth examining. His commitment to service, integrity and the good of the common customer - even when that angered the elite customer - made him richer than most of the aristocrats who fought against him. We [...] recommend this worthy portrayal of a riveting role model to entrepreneurs, finance professionals and any business history buff.

An informative account of a crucial figure in U.S. financial

I learned a lot about Wall Street history from this book. The relatively overnight successes of technology driven Wall Streeters should not obscure the more remarkable achievements of Charlie Merrill. The author skillfully describes the times in which Merrill operated and gave me a balanced view of Merrill's strengths and weaknesses. The story moves swiftly along and I gained a real appreciation of the future Merrill saw, the opportunities he capitalized on, and those he inspired along the way.