Michael Prowse
The Gekko’s Lair
Wall Street: A Cultural History
By Steve Fraser
Faber & Faber 606pp £25
I can testify to the allure of Wall Street. During the 1990s, I was based in Washington DC and covering the American economy for the Financial Times. There was no sense in trying to write about the US economy without paying close attention to Wall Street investment banks, so, like other economics correspondents, I often took the shuttle to New York. I would exchange gossip – and occasionally hard data – with economists and analysts at institutions such as J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Merrill Lynch.
After such encounters, I always came away with a strong sense of Wall Street’s unique role in American life. Here was an indubitable centre of power, a place where people’s opinions mattered. Yet it seemed to have little in common with either the political world of Washington DC or the
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
‘I have to change’, Miles Davis once said. ‘It’s like a curse.’
@rwilliams1947 tells the story of how Davis made jazz cool.
Richard Williams - In Their Own Sweet Way
Richard Williams: In Their Own Sweet Way - 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and the Lo...
literaryreview.co.uk
The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act by Fredric Jameson - review by Terry Eagleton via @Lit_Review
for the new(ish) April issue of @Lit_Review I commissioned a number of pieces, including Deborah Levy on Bowie, Rosa Lyster on creative non-fiction, @JonSavage1966 on Pulp, @mjohnharrison on Oyamada, @rwilliams1947 on Kind of Blue, @chris_power on HGarner