Crash Bang Wallop

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What to expect

Published to mark the 30th anniversary of the financial revolution known as 'Big Bang', Crash Bang Wallop will tell the gripping story of how the changes introduced in the 1980s in the City of London transformed our world.

Attitudes to money and the way we measure value and status were completely reshaped by Big Bang, and it had an extraordinary impact on politics, on style, on technology, on the class system, on questions of public ownership, and on the geography of London. Perhaps more than anything, Big Bang revolutionised the international markets, as the capital became a testing ground for financial globalisation, with huge repercussions for the global economy.

The definitive insider's account of this critically important moment in modern history, Crash Bang Wallop will also explore what's next for global finance as it gets ready to undergo yet another revolution.

'Iain Martin tells it brilliantly, mixing fury-inducing narrative with an acute eye for the broader conclusion.' Observer

(P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton

Critics Review

  • Fascinating . . . it is worth raising your eyes from the Brexit mud-slinging to read a new book on the history of the “Big Bang” financial reform . . .UK politicians should take heed of Martin’s book.

    Financial Times
  • An exciting story, told with verve

    Sunday Business Post
  • With a journalist’s eye for a good tale and a narrative style that rips along, Martin has turned an unloved part of British history about an unloved industry into a fascinating yarn.

    The Times
  • As historical accounts of modern finance go, this is a corker.

    Breaking Views Reuters
  • For anyone interested in finance . . . this is a readable history of how the City became the world’s money hub.

    Sunday Times
  • Highly readable and well-informed

    The National

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