“Vickers has produced a book that stands out in the scholarship of the banking crisis of the 1930s. It’s also greatly relevant to the recent financial collapse that has rocked the American and world economies. In the more than 75 years since the 1932 Chicago banking crisis, little has changed. Insider abuse at banks, weak regulation, and the protection of miscreants by powerful politicians of both major parties characterize what happened in the 1930s and recently. Deeply probing research in records often overlooked by scholars allows Vickers to carefully expose the web of private and public influence and often fraudulent behavior that sank Chicago’s leading banks in the 1930s. His research should inspire scholars and investigators determined to discover the roots of our recent financial collapse.”
-William H. Becker, The George Washington University
“Panic in the Loop is timely in view of the current financial crisis. Vickers uncovers the corruption, betrayal, and theft of public and private funds in 1932 Chicago and establishes a model for uncovering contemporary financial chicanery. Discussion of the Enron crisis gives the analysis contemporary value and validity and raises the specter of corruption behind the sub-prime mortgage façade. Scholars and students will find Panic in the Loop a worthy title for reading lists.”
-David O. Whitten, Auburn University, and author, with Douglas Steeples, of Democracy in Desperation: The Depression of 1893
“Rarely has the case for transparency in the regulation banks been made so well. It is hard to imagine that the bankers that caused the Chicago panic of 1932 would have been so brazen or the regulators so slow to stop them if their actions had been quickly made public.”
-Eugene N. White, Rutgers University
