How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn’t)AN INSTANT USA Today BESTSELLER • A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read • FEATURED IN The Wall Street Journal, Blooomberg, MoneyWeek, Kiplinger, Forbes, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Washington Independent Review of Books AND MORE! “Eye opening, deeply researched, and snort-out-your-nose funny. I dare you to put it down.” —William Bernstein, author of The Four Pillars of Investing “A serious and startling social history of wealth and a standup comedy routine, this is one of the funniest financial books I’ve ever read.” —Jason Zweig, columnist at The Wall Street Journal In richly told stories and wild self-experiments, historian Joseph Moore tests history’s best and worst financial advice to find what worked, what didn’t, and why everyday people can still get ahead—including you. What if so-called timeless beliefs about money like “invest for the long run,” “compound interest builds wealth,” and “real estate always goes up” were shockingly new . . . and rarely true. From Benjamin Franklin to TikTok gurus, what “everyone knows” about personal finance has rarely stayed the same. Parents once taught children not to save and that stocks were only for suckers. Meanwhile, supposedly new phenomenon like Airbnb, crypto, skipping lattes, and complaints that nobody can get ahead are far older than we think. In How to Get Rich in American History, Joseph Moore shares the unexpected and counterintuitive lessons of the past—from the scams we keep falling for to the long allure of creating generational wealth—so we can avoid the same mistakes and make the most of our own finances today. Along the way, Moore tries these old ideas on himself, with hair-raising and hilarious results. His personal journey includes wild investments, get-rich-quick schemes, founding a cryptocurrency, and how he went from his working-class roots and facing financial ruin to retiring in his forties. Ultimately, Moore finds that despite today’s loud pessimists, success has never been easier to achieve in American history than it is right now. Fun, accessible, and filled with eye-opening insights you can apply for yourself alongside laugh-out-loud stories you never learned in school, How to Get Rich in American History pushes back against skeptics who claim the American dream is out of reach. It is a thoughtful, practical, and surprisingly hopeful read that sheds new light on the prospects of getting by and getting ahead then . . . and now. “Refreshingly unequivocal advice.” —Publishers Weekly |
Contents
Fast Time Slow Time | 2 |
Crypto Isnt the Future Its the Past | 5 |
Inflations Oops Baby | 11 |
Gurus Are Selling Something You Should | |
Your Net Worth Is Wrong So I Made Myself a Billionaire | |
Investing Then and | |
The Next Big Thing Is a Bad Idea | |
Compound Interest and Passive Income Are Overrated | |
Yes People Retired Before Social Security | |
Immigrants Make the Best Capitalists | |
The Nigerian Prince Is Actually from Spain | |
The Feds and the Family | |
Budgets Are New Hating Them Isnt | |
Debt Isnt Necessarily Dumb | |
The Government Was Always Involved | |
Going Broke Is Better than Ever | |
Diversification Wont Make You Rich | |
You Can Beat the Market You Probably Shouldnt | |
Women Were Always Active Investors | |
Stocks Used to Be Bad for the Long | |
Financial Freedom the American | |
Financial Independence Isnt What You Think | |
Real Estate Is a Terrible Way to Make Money | |
House Hacks and Side Hustles Before Uber and Airbnb | |
Marriage and Dual Incomes Mattered a | |
Generational Wealth Doesnt Last Long | |
People Really Did Get Ahead and You Can | |
The Real Lessons of Financial History | |
Acknowledgments | |
Index | |
About the Author | |
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How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That ... Joseph S. Moore,Joseph S Moore Phd No preview available - 2026 |