The Moneychangers

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In 1907, following on the heels of his monumentally successful "The Jungle", Sinclair wrote an indictment of a Whartonian high-society in "The Metropolis", and it starred... a character named Allan Montague - a man who appears to be an idealized cipher for Sinclair himself. This book, "The Moneychangers" is the direct sequel to "The Metropolis", much in the same vein though with more of a focus on finance than society. The prose in The Moneychangers is really quite precise and assured, with some excellent phrases turned here and there. It flows rapidly from plot point to plot point, and even when it descends into lengthy descriptions of the ornate surroundings and opulent Newport mansions it never becomes boring. What is most striking is how much in the way of financial strategy Sinclair works into the novel, and how the shell game of overleveraged assets played in 1907 was nearly identical to the shell game of overleveraged assets played in 2008. Sinclair was highly literate about economics, largely because of his strenuous immersion into Socialism, and he brings to life the complicated and inscrutable economic power plays (read: frauds) that are invisible to the public and most investors.