How to Get Rich the American Way

The Psychology of Money meets The 50 Classicsthis new guide to the timeless wisdom of wealth chartsthe popular financial narrativeover three centuries, distillinglong term lessons from the past that can be applied today.

In How to Get Rich the American Way, history scholar and investor Joseph Moore unpacks the fascinating stories, folklore, forgotten bestsellers and confident claims about money in America for everyday people around the world. In the course of searching for an ageless wisdom of wealth, he confronts the many mistaken beliefs, on both the cultural right and left, that persist about money.

Like The Psychology of Money meets Freakonomics, How to Get Rich the American Way harnesses the insights of academic history into a popular narrative of change over time, both in financial strategies and in the lives of Americans whose wealth got better (or worse) by using them.

How to Get Rich the American Way is based on years of in-depth research by a contrarian academic who become rich himself while developing the book's theories, learning the history of real estate investing, stock trading, get-rich-quick schemes, and financial gurus.

From Nigerian prince scams to the investment manuals of housewives, from the destruction of African Americans' savings in the Freedman's Bank to the surprisingly long history of failing to teach children about money, and from the wit of Benjamin Franklin to the fraud of $0 down real estate infomercials, How to Get Rich the American Way brings an eclectic set of stories to bear on the financial destinies of everyday people. Each chapter includes anecdotes from the author's economic journey, including tales of wild investment ideas, get-rich-quick seminars, and his decade long-quest to apply the lessons of history to his own finances. By the end, to his own very great surprise, he is now a multi-millionaire.

Accessibly written with short, punchy chapters, the book is a thoughtful, realistic, and ultimately encouraging read on the prospects of getting by and getting ahead.