The Moneychangers

by Upton Sinclair

The Financial Panic of 1907 is often cited as a justification for the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 (signed into law on December 23rd . . . watch carefully what your legislators do to you during the holidays when nobody is paying attention, they continue to use this trick even today).

The Moneychangers is Upton Sinclair's barely fictionalized account of the financial crisis, and in the novel a character based on J.P. Morgan is lauded for rescuing everyone from a crisis that he created. Sinclair dedicated the book to Jack London. Image at right by Jack Conway, Film Daily, 1920

Since this is an historical novel, I encourage you to review the Financial Panic of 1907, keeping in mind the financial crisis of 2008 and other recent Wall Street scandals, before reading this novel.