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Joseph Nocera
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A Piece of the Action: How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class Paperback – October 15, 2013

by Joe Nocera (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 94 ratings
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Now with a new introduction describing the fallout of America’s consumer credit boom, 1994’s wildly acclaimed bestseller A Piece of the Action tells the story of how millions of middle class Americans went from being savers to borrowers and investors through the invention of credit cards, mutual funds, and IRAs—resulting in profound societal change.

“America began to change on a mid-September day in 1958, when the Bank of America dropped its first 60,000 credit cards on the unassuming city of Fresno, California.” So begins Joe Nocera’s riveting account of one of the most astonishing revolutions in modern American life—what Nocera labels “the money revolution.” In the decades since, the middle class has gained access to credit cards, to mutual funds, to retirement accounts—and to hundreds of other financial vehicles that have allowed everyone to get “a piece of the action.” In this lively, engaging book, some of the great financial characters of modern times—from Charles Merrill to Charles Schwab to Peter Lynch—strut across the stage as the course of this great financial shift is charted.

In an all-new introduction, Nocera takes a look back at the consequences of the money revolution. Were members of the middle class as prepared as the innovators claimed to take control of their financial lives? Or did events like the dot-com and the housing bubbles suggest something else: that far too many of us lacked the wherewithal to make sound investment decisions?
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  1. Print length
    480 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    October 15, 2013
  4. Dimensions
    5.25 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1476744890
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1476744896
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“One of America’s finest business writers has collided with one of America’s biggest untold stories, and the result is, predictably, a smash hit. Joseph Nocera explains why you have become the financially obsessed creature you are, and if you have a moment to spare from adding your credit card bills to your stock market losses, you should listen to him.” -- Michael Lewis, author of The Big Short

“Nocera is one of the most gifted observers of the business world today. It is no surprise that he has produced the definitive history of the post-World War II revolution in personal fincance and made it both vivid and comprehensive.” -- Bryan Burrough, coauthor of Barbarians at the Gate

“Everyman as financier. That’s the engaging and under-reported story that Joe Nocera shares with us in A Piece of the Action. This is not financial history, not business history: It’s a timely and superbly researched history of a dominant facet of modern American culture—one that has changed how we act, what we worry about, and who we are.” -- Tom Peters, coauthor of In Search of Excellence

“There isn’t a reader who won’t find himself or herself in . . . Nocera’s fascinating [book].” ― The Wall Street Journal

“[A Piece of the Action] fills in what is literally thirty years of missing history to the story of postwar America.” ― Los Angeles Times Book Review

“A riveting saga of the rise and rise of America’s personal finance industry—and the ferocious innovators who built it.” ― Fortune

“A very fine specimen of journalism . . . Nocera does succeed in breathing life into inanimate things . . . clear, accessible and engaging.” ― The New Republic

“Lively portraits of the legends of these financial industries . . . well-researched, tightly written, and full of eyewitness accounts.” ― Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Joe Nocera is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. He was previously a business columnist for the Times and a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. He spent ten years at Fortune, where he rose to editorial director, and has written for numerous publications, including GQ, Esquire, and Newsweek. He has won three Gerald Loeb awards and three John Hancock awards for excellence in business journalism. His most recent book is the New York Times bestseller All the Devils Are Here, which he coauthored with Bethany McClean. He lives in New York.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster; Reissue edition (October 15, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1476744890
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1476744896
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 1.25 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 94 ratings

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Joseph Nocera

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
94 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Charlie
5.0 out of 5 stars Sea Change
Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2023
Verified Purchase
A Piece of the Action describes the massive cultural shift from a country of savers to one of debtors, primarily accomplished through the introduction of the credit card. It was interesting to read about the fears of something we all take for granted now. The same story of “it will be bad for society” and “people won’t be able to control themselves” was spouted by the same sorts of bureaucrats that try to lord over all societies.

Joe Nocera does an excellent job describing the shift and the intermediate steps, including the development of money market funds and mutual funds. The psychology of investors chasing yield is highly relatable and continues in different forms today. The story of Fidelity and their colorful cast of characters also provides illuminating details.

This book is a unique financial history of how the middle class became interested in, and often obsessed with, tracking and improving their finances. It also demonstrates the effects of unintended consequences and shows how regulations distort incentives. The same bureaucrats who try to control society are often the ones standing against the progress taking place right in front of them. The trends examined in the book have only continued, and amplified, to the present day. Highly recommend.
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Bruce Eder
4.0 out of 5 stars A Business History That Reads Like a Spy Thriller
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2012
This book explains how an experiment in a single county in California at the end of the 1950s -- the first issuance of a bank-spawned commercial credit card, made available to residents of that county and that bank's customers -- started a chain of events that, 40 years later, altered the way that most of us pay for many of the most routine transactions in our daily lives (including buying on Amazon or anywhere else on-line) -- and changed the relationship between people and banks, and banks and the government, and people and technology, and the way that technology interacts with their money, their identity etc. At its best (which it is for much of its length), A PIECE OF THE ACTION also reads like a very involving thriller, and is difficult to put down -- as Joseph Nocera explains the evolution of one layer, and then another, and another . . . of people's relationship to money in the modern world, one wants to take in more, and he doesn't disappoint. Among the other minor revelations, the book recalls how the Nixon administration very deliberately put T-Bills out of the reach of most ordinary citizens -- presumably to protect the banks, as though they needed the protection -- a decision that was not undone until Bill Clinton's presidency. (Reviewer's note: This, presumably, was because Gerald Ford was too busy cleaning up the mess left by Nixon, Jimmy Carter was too busy just being president, Ronald Reagan was too busy saving the world from Communism, and Bush I was too busy trying to fill Reagan's shoes and clean up his mistakes in the Middle East). The story is fascinating, and the detail -- even delving into such matters as how the advent of ATMs was complicated by banking laws that varied with each of the 50 states -- is dazzling. This is a page-turner, and a keeper.
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Richard of Connecticut
5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Work on the Post World War II Financial Revolution that made America the Country it is Today - Read It!!!! - Five
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2010
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A child born today will accept the Internet, iPods, cell phones, and digital cameras as easily as we accepted television in the 1950's. It is in this spirit that you should view this book. There was a time not so long ago when people traveled, they carried cash to pay their hotel bill, for there were no credit cards. They ate in diners because McDonald's and Burger King did not exist. Very few people called long distance because it was prohibitively expensive.

That was life before the financial revolution that began in the 1950's, and Joseph Nocera in this wonderfully written biography of the revolution takes us through it step by step. There were two huge steps in the MONEY REVOLUTION. They were the CREDIT CARD and the MUTUAL FUND.

The two steps would transform the middle class into the money class and nothing would ever be the same. Where we came from and how we got here is the subject of this book, and it is told better than it is told anywhere else.
It is a story that begins with a notion, that notion is that banks are snobs who only want to deal with big corporations, that they look down on the middle class. There would come a time when that notion would be challenged by one man and one bank.

A.P. Giannini, the founder of the Bank of Italy that in the 1940's would become Bank of America turned banking on its head. California had statewide banking which means that a bank in California could open branches anywhere in the state. Only California permitted this. In New York you were limited to cities. In places like Texas you were restricted even more to towns and villages only.

Giannini wanted to service the middle class and that's what he did. After his death, Bank of America would create the credit card, and call it BankAmericard. Years later we would all know as VISA. The first unsolicited credit card drop took place in 1958 in Fresno, California. Over 60,000 credit cards were mailed to consumers in Fresno at one time. As they say the rest was history. This is what you learn in this book:

* How Charlie Merrill would create Merrill Lynch to cater to the middle class, and go on to dominate the brokerage industry for generations.

* How Dee Hock the creator of VISA should be honored as perhaps the most innovative inventor in the credit card industry.

* How Ned Johnson by attaching check cashing writing privileges to Fidelity account unleashed the creation of company that would gather 1 trillion dollars under its belt.

* How Andrew Karh created the non-bank bank that allowed him to circumvent every financial regulation in the country.

* How Peter Lynch created a mutual fund that would gather $100 billion in investable assets under its wings.

* How Charles Schwab challenged the entire brokerage industry by offering massive discounts.

* How John Reed would revolutionize banking by created the ATM, and everyone thought he was crazy. Reed would go on to take Citibank to the top of the credit card world.

CONCLUSION:

Joseph Nocera tells us that the banks did not create the financial revolution. We the consumers created it, by demanding it. As the financial institutions one by one fell line to give consumers their wishes, we demanded more and more. For the first time, you will understand the underpinnings of the revolution, and in knowing the beginning, you will be in a better position to see where we are going.

If you love a good read, and a fascinating story read A Piece of the Action, and thank you for reading this review.

Richard C. Stoyeck
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Angeliki Tsavdaridi
4.0 out of 5 stars Ok but not as expected
Reviewed in Germany on November 20, 2023
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Book was delivered quickly enough and was OK but I expected better quality of edition.
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Soumya Banerjee
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice
Reviewed in India on December 15, 2018
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Nice book
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AM Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable and informative read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2013
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Great Book ! Both informative and a highly enjoyable read. The kind of book that gives you an insight in to what makes the wheels in banking and society turn the way they do.
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Agnel Ron
1.0 out of 5 stars print quality issue
Reviewed in India on December 28, 2023
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printing is blurred with this product
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Paul Roberts
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2015
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enjoyable read
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