Gambler’s hope

BOOK

Why do we forget the financial lessons of the past? Probably because we’ve got a built-in “this time it will be different” gambler’s hope that the next speculation will both succeed and be the one in which we find ourselves among the suddenly enriched. Unlike most rather dull economic histories, in A Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of America’s Financial Disasters (Knopf, $27.95), Scott Reynolds Nelson has gone after the big bust, and he’s got a somewhat snarky sense of humor that makes it very fun for readers. America’s always been the land of the something-for-nothing, lottery-playing, get-rich-quick folks. As this book makes clear, the underwater homeowners of this last bust are in very good historical company.